The National Action Committee (NAC) is a national body created in 2008 to work across the justice sector on access to justice issues facing Canadians in civil and family matters. NAC is a national catalyst for reform, fostering engagement, pursuing a strategic collaborative approach to reforms, and coordinating the efforts of all participants. It will undertake various activities including: implementation of its new governance model; holding its annual summit, regional colloquia, and communities of practice events; and, continuing to work on its justice development goals and justice metrics.

Bridges to Belonging will develop a plain language guide for people living with disabilities on their rights and responsibilities as a tenant. The resource will allow individuals in the Waterloo region to better understand the laws governing tenancy regardless of their level of literacy and facilitate more independent living arrangements. It is hoped the format will be disseminated to other agencies in the province to increase access to justice and independence for people with disabilities.

A Feasibility Assessment for a L(legal)-Consult System to Bring Timely Legal Information to Underserved Populations Using Community Primary Healthcare

The Bruyere Research Centre will conduct a feasibility assessment for a L(Legal)-Consult system that would establish web-based communications between primary care health practitioners and legal workers to provide appropriate and timely legal information to patients with legal issues. The assessment would set the stage for a 12 to 24 month implementation and evaluation of such a system which if successful, would allow the implementation of legal-medical partnerships by facilitating communication between health and legal workers without the need for the services of an on-site lawyer.

Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic proposes to create a fully public information portal that uses artificial intelligence to process, and provide information regarding telecommunications policy, to be used in consumer protection.

Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA) will establish, promote, pilot, and evaluate new online service interfaces for its existing direct services program that serves approximately 1,300 `Ontario renters each year who are facing eviction or have a human rights-related housing issue. The project will improve access to CERA’s programming, advancing the legal rights of people with respect to their housing.

Increasing Access to Justice for Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

A collaborative of organizations who work in the intimate partner violence field are working together on a proposal to improve and expand training and support to a wide range of trusted intermediaries working in various sectors across Ontario to support frontline workers as they help women to use the law to make a difference in their lives.

The North side Hip Hop Archive housed at Ryerson University (NSHHA) will develop plain language materials on copyright and intellectual property laws geared at Canadian hip hop artists, with an emphasis on helping artists keep pace with the evolving digital music landscape and understand how to utilize new digital tools to protect their art. This grant will benefit local hip hop artists in Ontario and across Canada. Through this work, NSHHA aims to equip artists with the information needed to protect their art and to seek out legal remedies when they feel their rights have been infringed.

SKETCH will establish the formal administration and management for its Trans ID Clinic to provide confidential legal guidance to young people aged 16-29 in the Greater Toronto Area to make changes to their name and gender markers on government identification documents. The clinics will be run in conjunction with Pro Bono Students Canada with pro bono legal services provided courtesy of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP. Intensive training for lawyers and law students regarding transgender identities and the law will be provided by lawyers from the Justice for Children and Youth specialty clinic with assistance from a trans Peer Trainer. Complete and accurate government identification allows trans individuals increased access to secure housing, employment, and healthcare.

The Action Group on Access to Justice (TAG) will bring together institutional, political, and community justice system stakeholders throughout Ontario and build the infrastructure for collaboration, cross-sector innovation, and coordinated solutions to improve access to justice. Funding will support TAG’s 2019 Access to Justice Week activities including a conference on the topic of public legal education organized by the Ontario Justice Education Network and Community Legal Education Ontario, as well as panel discussions, roundtable workshops, and keynote speaker events.

Indigenous Realities of Navigating the Canadian Justice System Project

The Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC) will expand the scope of their recently completed research project to conduct community-driven research (using its unique USAI Research Framework) into the impact of bail, remand, and other justice-related processes on urban Indigenous communities in Ontario, shedding light on the specific experiences of urban Indigenous people within these communities, as well as the specific partnerships, innovative program delivery solutions, and gaps in Friendship Centre services. OFIFC will build on its research by partnering with additional Friendship Centres in Ontario and broadening the geographic scope of this work. The work will provide valuable data to support policy discussions, program development, and contribute to the growing body of research regarding the treatment of Indigenous people in Ontario’s justice systems.

Connecting Ottawa will continue to coordinate a consortium of over 40 legal and non-legal organizations to implement a regional plan to provide legal information and referrals to people who are not proficient in English or French or who face communication challenges as the result of a disability or sensory impairment. Established to fulfil a recommendation in the “Connecting Across Language and Distance: Linguistic and Rural Access to Legal Information and Services” report commissioned by the Foundation, the initiative also strengthens linkages between legal and community workers in Ontario and is part of the Foundation’s strategic focus on the training and support of trusted intermediaries.

To support a conference of the International Legal Aid Group, a network of legal aid specialists from over two-dozen countries, to be held in Ottawa from June 17-19, 2019. The goal if the biannual conference is to improve evidence-based policy-making in the field of poverty legal services through discussion and dialogue on international developments in legal aid policy and research.

Still Waiting for Disruption: Understanding Barriers to A2J Legal Technologies

Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD) will conduct research to understand how Ontarians use technology to resolve civil legal issues and their satisfaction with the technologies used. OCAD will also explore how legal technology designers and innovators incorporate public legal needs and experiences into their designs. This grant will benefit the public as well as legal technology innovators, designers, and investors. Through this work, OCAD aims to promote an exchange of knowledge between traditional A2J legal service providers and the legal technology community. OCAD believes this will foster the development of technological tools that meaningfully impact the public and reduce barriers to accessing justice.

Trusted Help – Facilitating Access to Justice in Care Campuses across Ontario

The Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging Foundation will conduct a needs assessment for the purpose of developing a model wherein frontline workers in long term care and retirement homes will assist older adults that live in its residences with their legal issues. This can include identifying legal issues, providing legal information, assisting in navigating the legal system, and assisting with completion of legal forms. This is a joint initiative of the Institute and Schlegel Villages, and will be done in partnership with the University of Waterloo, and Conestoga College.

Tech for Women’s Justice: Exploring the Intersections Between Violence Against Women, Access to Justice and Technology

Women Abuse Council of Toronto (Woman ACT) will conduct research to explore how women in the Greater Toronto Area who are experiencing violence use technology to obtain legal help and support. Partners include Working for Change. This grant will benefit women experiencing violence and stakeholders in the violence against women (VAW) sector. Through this research, Woman ACT aims to increase public understanding of how women experiencing violence can leverage technology to access justice. Woman ACT also aims to promote the need to consult with survivors on solutions or innovations within the VAW sector.

Catalyzing Access to Justice during Short Interactions with Low-Income Tenants

ACORN will undertake a two-step research initiative – an environmental scan and two focus groups – to identify legal issues experienced by low-income tenants in Ontario. It will then develop a portable and user-friendly tool and train its community organizers to use the tool to identify legal problems and to direct community members to sources of legal information and advice largely in the areas of housing and consumer rights issues. The new portable tool, whose primary purpose is to assist community members to address legal issues before they escalate, will be piloted in Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa.

The Action ontarienne contre la violence faite aux femmes (AOcVF) will create a virtual legal information portal for trusted intermediaries in the Francophone violence against women (VAW) sector across Ontario. Partners include local AOcVF member organizations. This grant will benefit Francophone women survivors of violence who have also experienced other forms of marginalization including addiction and poverty. The objective of the project is to equip transitional housing support workers, family court support workers and other trusted intermediaries in the Francophone VAW sector with easily accessible and reliable resources to help survivors defend their rights in different legal areas including housing, social assistance, immigration, criminal, and family law.

Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA) will study existing service gaps at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) to identify strategic responses available to frontline workers. It will work with a committee of community partners from across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to develop and deliver tools and training to build legal competency in frontline workers on LTB matters. Five in-person trainings will be delivered in the GTA and a training webinar will be available online. CERA will provide phone support to assist frontline workers with individual client case management. CERA’s primary project partners are Dixon Hall Neighbourhood Services, East York East Toronto Family Resources, and LAMP Community Health Centre. This initiative will work to prevent evictions and homelessness among vulnerable renters facing hearings at the LTB.

Community Advocacy & Legal Centre will create a series of virtual workshops using an action research methodology that healthcare professionals can access on-demand and provide justice & health forums for interested communities across Ontario. Workshops will build healthcare professionals’ capacity to identity, refer, and address legal issues. Forums will introduce this new vision for access to justice and collaborations with trusted intermediaries that will better reach vulnerable and low-income populations and, in particular, rural communities.

Community Legal Education Ontario will conduct an environmental scan around the regulation of smart legal forms designed for public use (both in Canada and internationally) and their impacts through an access to justice lens. Partners include the University of Ottawa. This research will benefit both service users and service providers by identifying relevant considerations for stakeholders for the regulation of this rapidly changing field in Ontario.

Community Legal Education Ontario and Community Law School (Sarnia-Lambton) Inc. (CLSSL) propose to develop learning activities that will be piloted by CLSSL through at least one local literacy organization that trains and tutors adult learners, adapt the learning activities for province-wide distribution to the literacy sector, and conduct outreach and roll-out the learning activities to literacy organizations across the province.

Building a Model to Evaluate Online Interactive Resources for Access to Justice

Community Legal Education Ontario will build a model for evaluating online interactive tools, specifically the Guided Pathways tool. Partners include Cyber Justice Laboratory. The purpose of the project is to create an evaluation framework for online legal information and support tools. This grant will benefit service providers as well as clients utilizing interactive online tools in support of their legal needs.

Community Legal Education Ontario and the Association of Community Legal Clinics of Ontario will collaborate to build engagement and capacity in community legal clinics across the province to train and support trusted intermediaries in their communities. The project aims to establish more consistent community engagement by community legal clinics and improve levels of assess to justice by expanding the use of trusted intermediaries in their respective communities.

The Northwestern Ontario Women’s Centre, in partnership with the Thunder Bay and District Coordinating Committee to End Woman Abuse, will develop and pilot a high risk navigation model/response system protocol in Thunder Bay for women and children facing violent perpetrators. The partnership will also develop and deliver training for trusted intermediaries in gender based violence theory and practice, and in turn, they will provide training for legal system professionals through workshops and an annual professional training day. The project will increase collaboration between community-based advocates and the justice system to intervene in incidents with the most severe potential consequences.

Evaluation of the Effect of Community Mediation on Parties’ Relationships

St. Stephen’s Community House will evaluate the effectiveness of community mediation and coaching, as practiced in the 12 services of the Ontario Community Mediation Coalition, in resolving immediate conflicts and especially in improving the ongoing capacity for communications and future conflict resolution in and among clients using these services. Partners include the Winkler Institute for Dispute Resolution. The program evaluation will benefit both service providers and clients in giving and receiving community mediation services.

The Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC) will establish the Trusted Intermediary Education Project, a professional development training for the OFIFC’s Community Justice Program (CJP) Coordinators who facilitate culture-based diversions for urban Indigenous communities throughout Ontario. The proposed project will provide CJP Coordinators with curriculum to train volunteers to support with the diversions process, best practices for program outreach, and training on developing effective memoranda of understanding. The program aims to establish more consistent levels of facilitation with increased effectiveness and improved outcomes for clients.

Assessing the Complexity of Interactive Court Forms Using a Functional Literacy Framework

University of Ottawa will examine how technology can be used to mitigate a barrier to the public effectively accessing justice: court form complexity. It will build on the academic researchers’ previous work evaluating the accessibility of paper-based court forms to examine the benefits and identify remaining challenges to making court forms easily accessible and usable for the public, with Community Legal Education Ontario’s (CLEO) Guided Pathways used as an example. Partners include Western University and CLEO. This grant will benefit academics, service providers, as well as service users.

The International Human Rights Program (IHRP) will conduct research on the human rights implications of using predictive analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) in the criminal justice context, with primary focus on examining how predictive analytics is used to support community policing by police departments. Partners include Citizen Lab. This grant will benefit the general public as well as policy makers and legislators interested in the regulation of AI technologies. Through this work, IHRP aims to increase public awareness and understanding of the use of AI and predictive technology in the Canadian criminal justice system. IHRP also aims to promote discussions around appropriate oversight and accountability mechanisms for these technologies.

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice will design the first longitudinal study to measure the impact of different types of legal interventions (e.g. full representation, summary advice, provision of legal information etc.) on the resolution of civil and family legal disputes. The study will focus on community legal clinics in Ontario. It will examine the impact of different legal services as provided by legal clinics (including full or partial representation). This grant will benefit service users as well as service providers.

The Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act: Measuring the Real-World Impact of Public Legal Education

Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network will develop and implement a qualitative research protocol to evaluate, among people who use drugs and harm reduction service providers, both (1) their knowledge of and use of the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act and (2) the effectiveness of the public legal education resources proffered to date on this topic in Ontario. The objective of this project is to analyze and report on research findings, with a view to informing any ongoing legal barriers and public legal education gaps that prevent people who use drugs from calling emergency services during an overdose.

Community Advocacy & Legal Centre will carry out a literature review and qualitative study on models of justice-health partnerships (JHPs) in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. It will create an evaluation framework to assess the impact of existing and newly emerging Justice & Health projects, looking specifically at: (1) the changes created for patients/clients; (2) the changes created for health care providers as trusted intermediaries; and (3) how these projects improve legal health and/or increase access to justice. The objective of this project is to support efforts to implement more effective JHPs for the benefit of patients and care providers as well.

King’s University College will run a pilot project and related research study in Ontario that will address the needs of children and parents involved in “cross-over cases”, high conflict separation or divorce family cases that also involve the child protection system due to allegations of neglect and abuse. Partners include the Office of the Children’s Lawyer. The goal is to study the effectiveness of a program that will provide high conflict families with enhanced access to collaborative interdisciplinary responses (i.e. legal and child welfare) through an early targeted response initiative. The focus is on assisting families to receive timely, appropriate services to help them resolve parenting disputes in a child-focused, efficient way.

The Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) will conduct research and consultations to understand how automated decision-making systems are being used in the justice sector in Ontario and across Canada. This grant will benefit the public and justice sector stakeholders that are interested in the regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. The LCO aims to develop recommendations for a regulatory framework for algorithmic and AI technologies used by justice sector stakeholders. The LCO believes this work could influence successive access to justice research and policy‐making in the area of digital rights.

NORDIK Institute will develop a participatory action research project to help identify how particular social determinants act as barriers for Indigenous people involved in the justice system. The research will formulate and test interventions in the areas of housing, transportation, and/or mental health or addictions treatment and determine whether they result in less frequent breaches of bail or probation conditions, thus leading to fewer convictions and incarcerations. Project partners include the Indian Friendship Centre and John Howard Society within Sault Ste. Marie the Canadian Mental Health Association, as well as First Nations (Batchewana, Garden River, Thessalon, Missanabie Cree, Mississauga, Sagamok, Serpent River, and Michipicoten), police services (Anishinabek Police Services, the City of Sault Ste. Marie Police Services, and the Ontario Provincial Police), Crown and defense attorneys, and Legal Aid Ontario. This project seeks to improve the experience of Indigenous people with the justice system in Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma District.

More Lawyers, More Litigation? Exploring Trends in Litigation and the Legal Profession

Ryerson University will research the correlation and potential relationship between the composition of the legal profession and trends in litigation in Ontario, in order to examine if there is a correlation between the number of legal professionals in Ontario and litigation trends. The researchers are interested in exploring the premise that the admission of too many lawyers to the Bar will, among other things, result in a supply-driven excess in litigation. The project will begin to identify the access to justice implications of a change in the legal labour force.

University of Ottawa, Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) will conduct research on the subject of forum selection clauses, arbitration clauses, and class-action waivers in standard form consumer contracts in Canada. This research aims to help understand and address any imbalance in the implementation of these clauses in standard form contracts between businesses and consumers. CIPPIC will use traditional legal research and empirical research methods for this work, including an online survey of 5,000 consumers and focus groups of Ontario consumers. They will report on their findings, including a report on the state of standard form contracts across Canada, and develop a concise guide on which Canadian laws apply to forum selection clauses, arbitration clauses, and class-action waivers.

University of Toronto, Faculty of Law will obtain a complete record of all Personal Property Securities registrations in Ontario between 1990 and 2016 from the province of Ontario and undertake the first large-scale academic empirical analysis of secured lending in Canada, specifically relating to individual and small business lending. This research will provide a more complete and accurate picture of the landscape of consumer and small business debt in Ontario. The researchers will also make their cleaned up and anonymized dataset available to other researchers for non-commercial uses in both French and English. This database will be of benefit to a variety of disciplines, including law, finance, economics, and public policy, and will provide a whole new data source for analysis of secured lending practices for scholars from various fields.

Public Perceptions of Civil Justice in Ontario Longitudinal Trend Survey

York University, Institute for Social Research will undertake a longitudinal trend survey on public perceptions and issues in the civil justice system in Ontario. This research project expects to establish a data base of longitudinal trend survey research findings and provide insight into (1) what is working in the civil justice system and what can be improved, (2) which research issues and themes warrant further in-depth research; and (3) what are the similarities and differences within the data base between survey respondents with specific experiences with the justice system and those who do not have those experiences. The research will help address the gap in existing research on meaningful access to justice in Ontario that is person-centred or public-oriented. The survey will be developed collaboratively with community organizations such as Community Legal Education Ontario and Pro Bono Ontario.

Does Race Matter?: An Examination of How Ontario Courts Consider Anti-Black racism in the Sentencing of African-Canadians

York University, Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community & Diaspora will undertake a qualitative research study to examine how Ontario courts, in the sentencing of African-Canadian offenders, understand and consider anti-Black racism in Canadian society. The long-term aim of the research study is to develop a framework to address the overrepresentation of African-Canadians in Ontario correctional facilities.

The Peterborough Community Legal Centre will create a fully integrated Justice-Health Partnership project in the eastern and central region of Ontario that will develop relationships with potential health partners, assess local needs and capacity, and design and implement project plans that are responsive to presenting justiciable issues in its communities. The project aims to demonstrate that enhanced access to justice through health service providers acting as trusted intermediaries can improve health outcomes, particularly for rural residents who face increased marginalization on the basis of geography, isolation, class, race, age, and ability.

The Legal Clinic will Improve access to justice for vulnerable individuals struggling with mental health and substance abuse conditions by building partnerships with local health and non-health service providers to optimize service coordination and client outcomes. The project will serve the United Counties of Leeds & Grenville, the Townships of North and Central Frontenac in Frontenac County and the Township of Addington Highlands in the County of Lennox & Addington. The project aims to demonstrate that enhanced access to justice through health service providers acting as trusted intermediaries can improve health outcomes for individuals with mental health and addiction problems.

Enhancement and Remote Expansion of the Refugee Sponsorship Support Program

The Refugee Hub will connect refugee sponsors across Ontario to pro bono lawyers and law students who will provide in-person and virtual assistance with preparing sponsorship applications. The grant will benefit refugees and their sponsors, particularly sponsors seeking to reunite with family members in their home country. Through this work, the Refugee Hub aims to connect sponsors to effective support, while promoting a collective approach to addressing refugee protection issues within the legal community.

Black Law Students’ Association of Canada (BLSA Canada) will host its annual conference in Ottawa. This grant will benefit Black law students from across the country. BLSA Canada aims to foster connections between Black law students and lawyers to promote professional development, legal education, and cultural awareness within the legal sector.

Caregivers Action Centre will develop and launch an outreach and education program for hard-to-reach caregivers and domestic workers who face substantial barriers to learning about and enforcing their employment rights.

A Pathway to End Violence Against Migrant Sex Workers: Access Safety, Dignity, and Justice

The Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter will produce legal materials and facilitate legal training workshops to frontline workers and migrant sex workers in Toronto. This project will benefit both frontline workers and migrant sex workers by increasing community capacity to support migrant sex workers who may experience, or have experienced, violence or exploitation, and also providing sex workers with legal training sessions about available legal supports.

The Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa will provide a two-day intensive advocacy program for 40-50 junior lawyers of the Eastern and Northern Ontario criminal defence bars. The interactive programming will be delivered in partnership with volunteer senior criminal lawyers (including from the Crown Attorney’s office) and judges from all levels of Court. This grant will provide new lawyers, many of whom are practising on their own and without mentorship, with the opportunity to hone their advocacy skills.

The Elizabeth Fry Society of Kingston’s C.A.R.E program will provide court accompaniment, system navigation, and public legal education support to women 18 and over in Kingston and the surrounding area. Queen’s University’s chapter of Pro Bono Students Canada is a partner. This grant will benefit women in the Kingston community who have been charged with provincial and federal offences under the Criminal Code, as well as those involved in family law matters. The C.A.R.E program aims to empower women to navigate the court process from an informed and supported position.

Empowerment Squared will provide legal information and referral support to racialized newcomer and immigrant students in Hamilton and the surrounding area. Partners include the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic and Justice for Children and Youth.This grant will benefit racialized newcomer and immigrant students experiencing education law issues and their families. Empowerment Squared aims to connect students and families to the information and resources needed to advocate for students’ rights and challenge schools’ disciplinary decisions, when necessary.

Justice for Migrant Workers will partner with University of Windsor, Faculty of Law to deliver bi-monthly drop-in summary advice clinics on immigration and employment law for migrant farmworkers in the Winsor/Essex/Leamington area of southwestern Ontario utilizing the services of pro or low-bono legal professionals. It will benefit migrant farmworkers facing multiple barriers to accessing legal services. In addition to linguistic barriers, migrant workers often experience geographic isolation, limited access to transportation, intersecting legal issues, and a lack of knowledge about basic Canadian laws and rights.

The Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University will conduct activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County will offer a mobile legal clinic, called Wellington County, Mobile Legal Service (WellCoMS), to enhance the network of rural supports available to low income residents of Wellington County. This project will improve access to justice in the rural portions of the region. It will also foster relationships among health care providers, the local bar association, mental health services, libraries, nonprofit organizations, community groups, and faith organizations.

Migrant Workers Alliance for Change will provide public legal education directly to migrant agricultural workers on employment, immigrant, worker compensation, and human rights in the Niagara and Durham regions. It will also help to consolidate regional services and referral partnerships in these regions to better serve migrant workers. This will strengthen local support services for the workers and give them the tools to self-advocate for their rights and improved access to justice.

Nokiiwin Tribal Council (NTC) includes six Nokiiwin communities in the Robinson Superior Treaty Territory of northwest Ontario: Animbiigoo Zaagi’igan Anishinaabek Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek; Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek; Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek; Pic Mobert First Nation; and Fort William First Nation. NTC provides services in the access to justice, health and wellness, community development, and education fields. The agency has hired a full time communications engagement officer to develop a detailed outreach and communication strategy to inform people about NTC’s justice-related services. The communications engagement officer will visit the six communities on a regular basis to provide residents with information about the NTC’s justice department including the work of the community legal worker, restorative justice coordinator, victim support services coordinator, and the half time lawyer who is available to provide legal advice to people with a low income. It is expected that these outreach activities will improve access to justice for First Nations people in the largely rural region.

The Northern Region Transformation Project, which is comprised of 11 legal clinics in northern Ontario, will undertake research to better meet the clinic law-related needs of Indigenous peoples, both on and off of reserves. The research will build an accurate picture of poverty and poverty/clinic law needs in Indigenous communities, explore the role of Indigenous languages and cultural interpretation in effective service delivery, and gather wise practices and gaps in resources and services. The quantitative and qualitative information collected will enable the clinics to enhance service and explore internal and collective organizational changes.

Ontario Justice Education Network will continue the collaboration of a previous grant, “Aboriginal Youth Designing a Better Justice System”, a project undertaken in partnership with the Winkler Institute for Dispute Resolution, Justice for Children and Youth and the Ontario Child Advocate. This next phase will focus on working with a group of Indigenous youth to develop one of the three youth-conceived technology prototypes from the August 2017 workshop. The objective of the project is to promote the involvement of Indigenous youth in the justice system and improved relations with law enforcement officers.

Osgoode Hall Law School will conduct activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

Queen’s University, Faculty of Law will conduct activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton will undertake a public legal education initiative for tenants in two of Hamilton’s low income neighbourhoods related to preventing displacement due to gentrification. The project will use popular education to increase the knowledge and capacity of tenants to respond to landlords’ attempts to displace them. This will allow tenants to better advocate for themselves in the legal process.

Turning Point Youth Services (TPYS) will screen youth entering the criminal justice system for mental health and other needs and connect them to available supports. This pilot will take place at the Ontario Court of Justice at 311 Jarvis St. in Toronto. Partners include Justice for Children and Youth. This grant will benefit youth facing criminal charges at 311 Jarvis. TPYS aims to connect youth to available supports as early as possible to increase the likelihood that they will be diverted from the criminal justice system.

The University of Ottawa Faculty of Law (Common Law Section) will conduct activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

The University of Ottawa Faculty of Law Civil Law Section will conduct activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

University of Toronto, Faculty of Law’s David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights will produce plain-language public legal information guides describing the relevant procedures for when a member of the public wishes to make a complaint about the police. The project will benefit members of the public. The objective of the project is to make more accessible the various complex police oversight complaints mechanisms.

University of Toronto, Faculty of Law will conduct activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Law will conduct activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

The University of Windsor, Faculty of Law will conduct activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

Native Law Centre (NLC) will implement a range of legal education initiatives, including its national legal research and publications program and the Native Law Centre Summer Program. This grant will benefit Indigenous law students and lawyers as well as the broader legal community. Through its initiatives, NLC aims to contribute to public legal education on Indigenous peoples and Indigenous law and promote access to legal education for Indigenous students.

Community Law School will provide training in the Sarnia, Barrie, and London areas to frontline social service workers and at various provincial umbrella organizations connected to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. The training will enable frontline workers to support their clients throughout the Criminal Injuries Compensation process. Four training webinars will be produced in cooperation with Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) using the intensive training materials and be made available through CLEO’s Your Legal Rights website for use by numerous social service agencies across the province. Victims of violence will benefit from this program while they assist them in obtaining compensation.

The Gilbert Centre for Social and Support Services will conduct workshops on legal information and system navigation training for frontline workers, parents, and community leaders with respect to transgender children, youth and families, and the law. This project will promote a better understanding of the rights of transgender and gender variant children and youth and parents, and provide frontline workers and educators knowledge about their legal rights.

YWCA St. Thomas Elgin will work with project partners and participating communities to design and deliver workshops, training material, and podcasts for immigrants and newcomers to provide them with basic legal information on high-need areas such as landlord-tenant, consumer, and contract law. Frontline workers also will be trained. The project will benefit immigrants and newcomers by supporting trusted intermediaries to better equip members of these groups with the legal basics to navigate Canadian society.

Supporting Family and Friends of Those With Mental Health Challenges: Mental Health Laws and Advocacy

Community Law School will develop workshop materials on various mental health laws for the community in Sarnia. Partners include the Lambton Mental Wellness Centre. This grant will benefit the family and friends of those living with mental health challenges. Community Law School aims to bolster the ability of families to help their family members who are living with mental illness and experiencing legal issues.

Law in Action Within Schools (LAWS) will place students in paid four-week jobs with legal aid clinics and public interest organizations as part of their summer job program. The grant benefits high school students involved in the LAWS program and offers them a unique opportunity to learn about access to justice, observe the legal aid system in action, and interact directly with community members.

Peacebuilders will create a video on restorative justice and its place in the youth justice system in Ontario, including how and at what points during the justice process youth can access restorative programming. Partners include Youth Justice Ontario and Ontario Justice Education Network. This grant will benefit youth in contact with the justice system as well as youth justice practitioners. Peacebuilders aims to consolidate information on the restorative justice resources available to youth and foster coordination among youth justice organizations.

Regent Park Focus will create multi-media public legal education materials with youth in Toronto. Partners include Downsview Community Legal Services and Toronto Police Services, 51 Division. This grant will benefit youth living in the Regent Park and Lawrence Heights neighbourhoods. Regent Park Focus aims to promote public legal education and foster legal capability among youth in a creative way.

The University of Windsor, Faculty of Law will host the 2018 World Indigenous law conference under the title and theme, “Waawiiatanong Ziibi: where the river bends, the application of Indigenous laws in Indigenous communities and in the courts”. Partners include Elders and scholars from Canada and abroad. This grant will benefit the Indigenous community, the law faculty, and the legal community. The University of Windsor, Faculty of Law aims to foster meaningful discussions on Indigenous law and teachings as well as promote the exchange of knowledge among Indigenous communities.

Applying for State-funded Counsel: a Guide for Parents in Child Protection Cases

The National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP) will create and disseminate a detailed guide to drafting, filing, and arguing applications for state-funded counsel in Ontario. This grant will benefit parents involved in child protection proceedings who have been denied legal aid and cannot afford legal representation. NSRLP aims to provide low-income parents with the information needed to secure legal representation and meaningfully participate in child protection proceedings.

Aboriginal Legal Services (ALS) will benefit Indigenous community members across Ontario who are experiencing legal issues. ALS aims to improve its capacity to develop and deliver programs and services that are responsive to the needs of the Indigenous community.

The Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic’s Criminalization of Women Pro-Bono Program seeks to increase access to justice for women in the GTA who have experienced violence and have been charged with and/or convicted of criminal offences. Through the program, the Clinic provides women with summary legal advice and brief services for their criminal law matters. Program participants with more complex criminal law needs can access a community of pro bono criminal defense lawyers for legal advice. The program is for survivors of violence, particularly those facing multiple forms of discrimination, who come from underserved communities, and who have complex socio-economic and legal needs.

Canadian Civil Liberties Education Trust will provide workshops, seminars, and in-class sessions in schools, educational institutions, and faculties of education, educating students and teachers about their civil rights and freedoms. It prepares the next generation of Canadians for civic engagement by introducing teens to the exploration of civil liberties, critical thought, and the development of democratic habits.

Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) will continue to serve as the central hub for all public legal education and information (PLEI) in Ontario. CLEO develops clear, accurate, and practical legal rights education and information to help people understand and exercise their legal rights, with a particular focus on support for trusted intermediaries. The use of trusted intermediaries significantly expands access to justice for low income individuals and people from marginalized and vulnerable communities in Ontario.

Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) will continue to serve as the central hub for all public legal education and information (PLEI) in Ontario. CLEO develops clear, accurate, and practical legal rights education and information to help people understand and exercise their legal rights, with a particular focus on support for trusted intermediaries. The use of trusted intermediaries significantly expands access to justice for low income individuals and people from marginalized and vulnerable communities in Ontario.

The FCJ Refugee Centre serves refugees and others at risk due to their immigration status through all steps of the refugee determination and refugee appeals processes as well as assisting with the family sponsorship and family reunification processes. The Centre primarily works with refugee claimants, rejected refugee claimants, individuals with precarious immigration status, temporary foreign workers, and those who have been trafficked. It also provides training workshops and legal education materials for frontline workers who serve refugees in the greater Toronto area and other parts of southern Ontario on aspects of the immigration and refugee process and procedures. The Catalyst grant will help the Centre to ensure it has the capacity and expertise to serve its clients and assist other organizations to do so, as well as to ensure its evolution and sustainability.

Innocence Canada is dedicated to identifying, advocating for, and exonerating individuals convicted of a crime that they did not commit and to preventing such injustices in the future through legal education and justice system reform. The Catalyst grant will enable the organization to continue to coordinate and administer its pro bono program, which reviews and assesses claims of innocence, as well as to enable the continuation of its legal education program.

The John Howard Society of Ontario (JHSO) will create an innovative new program to scope and serve the unmet civil legal needs of JHSO clients in Ontario. This grant will benefit JHSO clients, which includes people in provincial or federal correctional institutions, those recently released from those institutions, and other at-risk clients. Through the Catalyst grant, JHSO aims to develop programming that is responsive to the particular circumstances of justice-involved individuals who have civil legal problems.

L’Association des juristes d’expression française de l’Ontario (AJEFO) raises awareness, informs, and educates the general public and jurists about their legal rights in the official language of their choice. It will offer services at its legal information centre in Ottawa and public legal education on its CliquezJustice.ca portal. AJEFO also plans to enhance its services for the general public. It will offer different workshops about justice-related topics across the province. This benefits Franco-Ontarians and other Ontarians.

The Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) will conduct research, provide multidisciplinary analysis, and develop reports on current and emerging legal policy issues. Partners include various justice sector organizations such as the Citizen Lab and the Criminal Lawyers Association. This grant will benefit justice sector stakeholders and the general public. Through the Catalyst grant, the LCO aims to promote access to justice and contribute to public debate.

Law in Action Within Schools is a partnership between the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Osgoode Hall Law School, and the Toronto District School Board that delivers a law and justice-themed academic and extra-curricular high school program designed to teach students about law and justice. It will support them to graduate from high school, access post-secondary education, and consider a justice sector or legal profession career.

Level’s Indigenous Youth Outreach Program provides interactive justice education workshops and mentorship activities. Indigenous youth will learn about the Canadian justice system, as well as the importance of incorporating Indigenous practices into criminal justice proceedings. The program helps to deconstruct barriers to justice by disrupting prejudice, building empathy, and advancing human rights.

Luke’s Place serves women needing family support who have been subjected to abuse and the frontline workers and lawyers who assist them. Located in Oshawa, it supports women and their children through the family law process. It provides both direct services and systemic support, both in the Durham region, and provincially. The Catalyst grant will enable the organization to expand access to summary legal advice at its Oshawa-based pro bono clinic, improve upon and expand its virtual legal clinic to rural southwestern Ontario (currently, in partnership with over 20 women-serving organizations the virtual clinic serves urban and rural areas in northwestern and northeastern Ontario), update its legal information resources and training materials, and evaluate the overall impact of its work.

Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children (METRAC) works to end gender-based violence across communities through education, research, and policy. The Catalyst grant supports METRAC’s Community Justice Program, which works to build individual, community, and organizational capacity in the City of Toronto and across Ontario through legal education and information, research, and partnerships to increase access to justice for women and youth affected by violence. While METRAC’s programming is designed to benefit all women and youth experiencing violence, there is a particular focus on reaching isolated and vulnerable women including Indigenous women, newcomer women, LGBTQ2S communities, women with disabilities, and older women.

Ontario Justice Education Network will carry out programs that facilitate and support broad-based activity by the judiciary, the bar, the courts, and the education community throughout Ontario, with a primary focus on students and the strengthening of links between the justice and education communities. It develops innovative educational tools that introduce young people to the justice system, helps them understand the law, and builds their legal capability, and prepares them to manage the legal aspects of problems that arise in their own lives.

Pro Bono Ontario (PBO) bridges the gap between low-income Ontarians who cannot afford a lawyer or qualify for legal aid and lawyers who want to donate their services. It develops and manages programs that enable the provision of pro bono legal services including a free legal advice hotline, litigation assistance programs in small claims court and Superior Court in Toronto and Ottawa, and medical-legal partnerships that operate out of five children’s hospitals. In addition to supporting these activities, the Catalyst grant will enable PBO to enhance its hotline services. The hotline currently provides free summary advice and legal drafting services in the areas of civil litigation, consumer debt and protection, employment law, housing, power of attorney for property and personal care, and corporate law (for nonprofits and small newcomer-run start-ups).

Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC) will provide legal help without charge to low-income individuals and nonprofit organizations, and experiential learning opportunities to law students. With chapters in 22 of 23 Canadian law schools, PBSC develops legal placements for law students in a range of work settings, including clinics, nonprofit organizations, law offices, courts, and tribunals. Under the supervision of a lawyer, student volunteers draft memos, prepare policies and manuals, develop and deliver legal education workshops, assist lawyers and duty counsel with client intake, assist clients with document preparation, represent clients before tribunal and courts (under lawyer supervision), and provide legal information to clients.

Sudbury Workers’ Education and Advocacy Centre (SWEAC) seeks to provide public legal education to workers in Sudbury and surrounding area about their workplace rights. Youth are an especially important target population. Over the past two years the organization has developed ties with social service agencies in the surrounding regions including Espanola, North Bay, Timmins, and Sault Ste. Marie. SWEAC will continue to develop partnerships in the North. SWEAC’s outreach will also focus on the local First Nations to ensure that Indigenous workers are aware of their rights and the recourse available to them.

The 519 Church Street Community Centre aims to build on its capacity to support individuals through the justice system and provide the legal expertise necessary to increase access to justice. Partners include Pro Bono Students Canada and Community Legal Education Ontario. This grant will benefit members of the LGBTQ2S community, particularly those who are racialized, trans, low-income, under-housed, or otherwise marginalized who have difficulty accessing high quality legal services

The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History will study and promote public interest in the history of the law, the legal profession, and the judiciary in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada. It does so by publishing books on Canadian legal history and creating and preserving an oral history archive.

Worker’s Action Centre (WAC) provides frontline service providers, the precariously employed, and migrant worker communities with information about their legal employment rights and how to respond to violations. Receiving a Catalyst grant will expand WAC’s services and allow it to develop a robust and comprehensive public legal education strategy aimed at reaching workers across Ontario. It will allow the agency to reach workers in the language and region they live in. This will develop the organization’s capacity to: deepen its approach in education; expand its support to regions across Ontario that are struggling with particular forms of precarious employment such as misclassification, temp agency work, or service sector work; and expand WAC’s capacity to document barriers faced by workers in precarious employment. This will strengthen the agency’s capacity to create new materials and its approaches to its educational work.

The project would create a supported, graduated program for students wanting to pursue family law, which will take them from the classroom, to clinical education, to articles, to private practice. At the same time this project will enhance the organizations capacity to deliver better services to clients who would not otherwise be able to access justice in family law.

Pro Bono Students Canada (“PBSC”) will develop a new, national family court accompaniment project to serve unrepresented litigants in the family court system, The project will have three outputs: court accompaniment services for unrepresented litigants in family courts; public legal information sessions; and a final project report with policy and practice recommendations. This grant concludes in 2021. This grant furthers access to justice by providing much needed legal assistance to unrepresented family law litigants.

The AAJ Project will pilot a survey tool that collects information from tribunal users in Ontario regarding their experience navigating the tribunal process. The survey tool will also ask users demographic questions, including questions about race, ethnicity and Indigenous identity, in an effort to better understand the barriers faced by racialized and Indigenous tribunal users.

Luke’s Place will undertake the preliminary research for a project to examine the family court processes in Ontario in search of ways to reduce risk and improve outcomes in family law cases involving violence against women and criminal and/or child protection legal issues. Its partners in the initiative include Dr. Mavis Morton (University of Guelph), the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses, and the Woman Abuse Council of Toronto. This initiative has the potential to improve access to justice, and safety, for women with intersecting legal issues who have experienced domestic violence.

Access to justice for family violence in Nunavut: a research project & awareness campaign

The Law Society of Nunavut and Pauktuutit will conduct a research study to examine access to justice issues for Inuit survivors of family violence in Nunavut and develop a corresponding public legal education campaign to raise awareness about the legal options available for those survivors.

Community Advocacy & Legal Centre (CALC) creates a sustainable action plan to meet the unmet civil legal needs of people in conflict with the law who have been imprisoned, remanded or released from the Quinte Detention Centre in Napanee. This exploratory action research project will include a civil legal needs and local capacity assessment, and CALC will collaborate with the John Howard Society, Community Legal Education Ontario and other new partners to address these needs.

Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research creates tool kits to assist Ontario parents/guardians of children with sight impairments and CNIB rehabilitation staff assists them, to successfully obtain individualized accessible home accommodations required to improve their mobility and safety in their rental units.

Enhanced safety: By increasing efficiency of risk assessments in courts

The Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic (BSCC) in collaboration with the Centre for Research and Education on Violence against Women and Children (CREVWC), will conduct research on and develop a partner violence risk assessment tool to help women survivors of abuse navigate the family court system. The BSCC and CREVWC will also create a training toolkit for the different stakeholders in the family courts. This grant will benefit women survivors of abuse, family law practitioners and family court staff and concludes in 2020. This grant furthers access to justice by providing legal actors with the tools to recognize gender-based violence from the moment a survivor reaches out to the family justice system.

The National Action Committee (NAC) is a national body created in 2008 to work across the justice sector on access to justice issues facing Canadians in civil and family matters. It will undertake various activities including a governance review, a strategic planning exercise, a progress report on its justice development goals, connect people across common issues through engagement activities, and develop indicators for its justice metrics. It will also hold a national meeting to bring to bring people together, share resources, and spur action. NAC is a national catalyst for reform, fostering engagement, pursuing a strategic collaborative approach to reforms, and coordinating the efforts of all participants concerned with civil and family justice.

In partnership with the Faculty of Common Law at the University of Ottawa, Julie Mathews, Executive Director of Community Legal Education Ontario, will dedicate her fellowship to focus on the challenges that are faced by community service organizations in helping people they serve who face legal problems, particularly those living on a low income or experiencing other social disadvantages, with legal problems. The Fellowship will deliver an action-oriented framework of policy and program options for supporting and enhancing the role of community service organizations as “justice partners” making an integral contribution to improving access to justice in Ontario.

The Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton (SPRCH) will work in collaboration with the Immigrant Working Centre (IWC) in the Hamilton region, to implement the Family Learning Project (FLP), a legal education initiative that intends to provide new Canadian families with knowledge and capacity around child welfare legislation and policies. The project will also provide adult education sessions about child welfare law to service providers who work with new Canadians and peer mentors in the community. This grant will benefit new Canadians, service providers and peer mentors and concludes in 2020. This grant furthers access to justice because there is a disproportionate involvement of newcomers within the child welfare system as a result of factors such as unfamiliarity with the Canadian legal system, language, and cultural barriers.

In partnership with the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Law, Technology and Society, Jean-Noé Landry, Executive Director at OpenNorth, will examine power relations in a smart city ecosystem, and in particular the role and influence of citizens. It will explore how political participation is framed, and what changes occur as a result of the introduction of various networked and urban ‘smart’ technologies, and include the development of an Open Smart Cities Guide v2.0, a series of in-depth case studies examining the different dimensions of shifting human agency in smart cities, and a workshop on smart and inclusive cities.

African, Caribbean, Black (ACB) restorative justice - Family Group Conferencing (FGC) research and development project

Research on best practices on, and implications for the use of restorative justice – FGCs among African, Black, Caribbean, Black (ABC) families engaging the child welfare system, and the design of culturally appropriate supplementary FGC curriculum content and other knowledge products on the use of ACB focused FGCs for existing and potential FGC practitioners. Working with METRAC and Black Creek Community Health Centre, the project will explore development and implementation of pilot model.

Accessing justice in domestic violence cases: creating a research portal

The University of Calgary, Faculty of Law (U of C) will develop a web-based research portal for litigants and their support providers in domestic violence cases that will provide accessible, plain language summaries of the laws and government policies in each jurisdiction in Canada, with related links. The portal will be developed in collaboration with domestic violence and public legal education organizations across Canada. This grant will benefit abused women and the trusted intermediaries who provide them with legal and other support and services, this grant concludes in 2018. This grant furthers access to justice by providing a comprehensive breadth of family law and plain language legal information that would assist women who are victims of violence.

Access to justice for facilitating access: helping family law disputant resolve conflicts

Carleton University, Department of Law and Legal Studies (Carleton) is undertaking research to understand sources of conflict in child custody cases and the role of scheduling apps in particular. This grant will benefit the family law bar as a whole and concludes in 2019. This grant furthers access to justice by providing a better understanding of which issues in custody matters are the most contentious amongst separating families

In partnership with the Faculty of Common Law at the University of Ottawa, Julie Mathews, Executive Director of Community Legal Education Ontario, will dedicate her fellowship to focus on the challenges that are faced by community service organizations in helping people they serve who face legal problems, particularly those living on a low income or experiencing other social disadvantages, with legal problems. The Fellowship will deliver an action-oriented framework of policy and program options for supporting and enhancing the role of community service organizations as “justice partners” making an integral contribution to improving access to justice in Ontario.

In partnership with the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Law, Technology and Society, Jean-Noé Landry, Executive Director at OpenNorth, will examine power relations in a smart city ecosystem, and in particular the role and influence of citizens. It will explore how political participation is framed, and what changes occur as a result of the introduction of various networked and urban ‘smart’ technologies, and include the development of an Open Smart Cities Guide v2.0, a series of in-depth case studies examining the different dimensions of shifting human agency in smart cities, and a workshop on smart and inclusive cities.

METRAC will build the capacity of individuals, communities and organizations to effectively assist the most marginalized women and youth facing violence and in need of legal information. Program activities include providing legal education and information in clear language on a range of topics for service providers and producing and disseminating regionally targeted and multilingual legal information resources sensitive to the diverse experiences and realities of women.

The Law Commission of Ontario will continue to make recommendations to: make the legal system more relevant, accessible and efficient; simplify or clarify the law; use technology to increase access to justice; stimulate critical debate about law; and, promote scholarly legal research.

The Edmonton Community Legal Centre (ECLC) will provide family law legal advice appointments to low income Northern Albertans, with assistance from Edmonton pro bono family law lawyers and various technologies (Skype, Facetime, WhatsApp, etc) such that people are served in their own communities. Outcome evaluation will also be conducted to determine the effectiveness of each type of technology as well as client outcome and levels of satisfaction. This grant will benefit Northern Albertans and concludes in 2022. This grant furthers access to justice by providing access to family law services to those living in Northern Alberta, which is largely an underserved region.

Community Legal Education Ontario will continue to house the Connecting Communities Secretariat to coordinate and support the activities of legal and non-legal organizations working to improve access to justice. It facilitates legal information training for front line workers in communities that are not proficient in English or French and in rural and remote communities. The project also strengthens linkages between legal and community workers in Ontario and is part of the Foundation’s strategic focus on the training of trusted intermediaries.

The Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW) will inform Canadian Muslim women of their legal rights under Canadian family law. The CCMW will conduct a national survey, outreach strategy, knowledge sharing workshops, and webinars in both English and French. CCMW, through its local chapters, will be the conduit to provide knowledge sharing workshops in their local communities to Muslim women. This grant will conclude in 2020. This grant furthers access to justice in the lives of Muslim women in Canada by having increased knowledge and understanding of their rights under the Canadian legal system.

The AJEFO will develop a three-day French-language family law training course. This course will be offered to parties who work with immigrants and Francophone immigrants in Ontario. La Passerelle-I.D.É. will assist with the cultural adaptation of the training course content. The training will be delivered in Ottawa, Toronto, and Hamilton.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) and the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) is for a project aimed at revitalizing and codifying First Nation law relating to families and children with a focus on child protection. A digital library will be created to ensure the laws and information obtained from the activities can be used for educational purposes. This grant will benefit First Nations families and children, particularly children in the child welfare system and concludes in 2020. This grant furthers access to justice by providing an independent and community controlled process to revitalize and codify First Nations laws as a way to reform the child welfare system in Manitoba.

Organize a two-day symposium to bring French speaking professionals together to discuss topics related to violence toward women and family law in order to increase access to justice for Francophone women who experience violence in Ontario. Attendees will come from sectors that deal with VAW, including the legal sector, children’s aid, education, health policy, and immigration sectors.

OJEN will carry out programs that facilitate and support broad-based activity by the judiciary, the bar, the courts, and the education community throughout Ontario, with a primary focus on students and the strengthening of links between the justice and education communities. It will enhance existing high school mock trial competitions and deliver Law Day activities that are designed to develop awareness of the legal profession, the judicial system, and the rule of law in Canada.

The Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation will hold a one-day consultation and training session with service providers, housing specialists, and tenants who have experienced environmental sensitivity issues in rental housing. Following the in-person session, a webinar and toolkit will be developed focussing on the benefits of using a human rights approach to resolve issues experienced by individuals with ES+. The project’s partners include the Environmental Health Institute of Canada (EHICanada) and the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA). The project supports access to justice in rural and remote areas through the training of trusted intermediaries.

Family law at the library: Mobilizing the potential of public libraries to serve self-represented litigant

The National Self-Represented Litigant Project (NSRLP) based at the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law will partner with libraries in the Windsor and Essex County areas to provide support, workspace, custom-made resources, and educational programming for family self-represented litigants (SRLs). This grant will benefit both library staff and SRLs and concludes in 2020. This grant will further access to justice by better equipping public libraries to better serve SRLs with family law needs, this pilot project would be able to provide access to legal information for people, particularly litigants with limited resources, other vulnerabilities and needs.

Increasing use of non-traditional legal services for Ontario family cases

This initiative will mobilize and educate lawyers across Ontario in the use of unbundled family law legal services and legal coaching, pilot a program in Barrie that provides private duty counsel services, establish a roster of trained lawyers, develop information for the public, and undertake an evaluation of all aforementioned services. The project will be overseen by a steering committee made up of representatives from the Ontario Court of Justice, the Family Lawyers Association, Legal Aid Ontario, and the Academy among many others. The purpose of the project is to increase access to these types of services to allow those who are unable to afford (or not prepared to pay for) traditional full legal representation to have improved access to family justice. The proposed research study will be the first comprehensive study of the value and limitations of limited scope services to date.

Connecting Ottawa will continue to coordinate a consortium of over 40 legal and non-legal organizations to implement a regional plan to provide legal information and referrals to people who are not proficient in English or French or who face communication challenges as the result of a disability or sensory impairment. Established to fulfil a recommendation in the “Connecting Across Language and Distance: Linguistic and Rural Access to Legal Information and Services” report commissioned by the Foundation, the initiative also strengthens linkages between legal and community workers in Ontario and is part of the Foundation’s strategic focus on the training and support of trusted intermediaries.

CLEO will develop and implement a French version of family law content on its Steps to Justice website. The Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG), a major project partner, funded the translation of the initial website content for family, housing, and employment law into French. This will allow for the production of further French family law material.

$ 40,000

February 22, 2018

The Arab Community Centre of Toronto

Ma'aloumat

The ACCT will run a culturally sensitive campaign promoting legal awareness of Canadian family law for Arabic-speaking newcomers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Based on focus group discussions with members of the community, short educational videos in Arabic will be created and shared on social media.

$ 15,000

December 18, 2017

L'Association des juristes d'expression française de l'Ontario

Journée du droit 2018

AJEFO will organize and lead “Journée du droit” (Law Day) activities aimed at Francophone high school students in five different regions of the province. Interactive workshops provide information about careers in the justice sector, the required education and the advantages to pursuing that education in French, and education about legal rights and the Canadian justice system.

$ 15,000

December 18, 2017

Canadian Civil Liberties Education Trust

Program Activities 2018

CCLET will conduct in-class seminars, workshops, and lectures to students in elementary and high schools and to pre-service teachers in faculties of education across Ontario via two programs: Teaching Civil Liberties and Civil Liberties in the Schools. The focus is on engaging students in critical thinking and respectful debate about rights and freedoms.

$ 221,100

December 18, 2017

Elizabeth Fry Society of Northwestern Ontario

Justice system involvement in the context of homelessness and housing insecurity among women: assessment of legal issues and program needs in Thunder Bay

The Elizabeth Fry Society of Northwestern Ontario will carry out research on the criminalization of women who are homeless or housing-insecure. By conducting focus groups and engaging women with lived experience, the research will assess the extent to which housing insecurity and homelessness leads to criminal justice system involvement, with particular attention to the experiences of Indigenous women. In addition, the study will identify gender-specific and culturally relevant needs pertaining to housing, social, mental health and legal supports for women involved with the criminal justice system.

$ 14,937

December 18, 2017

Innocence Canada

Program activities 2018

Innocence Canada will continue to coordinate and administer its pro bono program, which reviews and assesses claims of innocence.

$ 230,000

December 18, 2017

Lakehead University, Faculty of Law

Annual Comprehensive 2018-19

The grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

$ 153,000

December 18, 2017

The Law Society of Upper Canada

The Action Group on Access to Justice

The Action Group on Access to Justice (TAG) will bring together institutional, political and community justice system stakeholders throughout Ontario and build the infrastructure for collaboration, cross-sector innovation, and coordinated solutions to the access to justice problem.

$ 125,000

December 18, 2017

Law in Action Within Schools

LAWS Summer Job Program 2018

LAWS’ Summer Job Program places students in paid four-week jobs with law firms, government legal departments, corporate legal divisions, and public interest organizations. The grant enables LAWS to place students in positions with legal aid clinics and public interest organizations and provides unique opportunities for students to learn about public law and access to justice, observe the legal aid system, and interact directly with community members.

$ 15,000

December 18, 2017

National Farmers Union – Ontario

Providing legal tools and education for young farmers

National Farmers Union – Ontario (NFU-O) will adapt Young Agrarians legal tools and educational materials used to facilitate farmland access in British Columbia to the Ontario context. As part of this project NFU-O will engage small-scale, new, and young farmers in Ontario to identify additional areas of concern where legal supports are needed.

$ 12,000

December 18, 2017

The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History

Program Activities 2018

The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History will study and promote public interest in the history of the law, the legal profession, and the judiciary in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada.

$ 192,000

December 18, 2017

Pro Bono Ontario

2018 Special Grant

2018 Special Grant

$ 300,000

December 18, 2017

Pro Bono Ontario

Program Activities 2018

Pro Bono Ontario will continue to create and manage programs that connect volunteer lawyers with low-income Ontarians, either directly or in partnership with charitable organizations working in local communities.

$ 800,000

December 18, 2017

Queen's University, Faculty of Law

Annual Comprehensive 2018-2019

The grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

$ 254,000

December 18, 2017

Romero House

Redress for Roma refugees outreach and engagement project

Romero House, on behalf of the Redress for Roma Refugees Coalition, will hire an outreach worker to educate former Romani refugee claimants about redress mechanisms relating to a unique set of circumstances.

$ 14,940

December 18, 2017

University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, Civil Law Section

Annual Comprehensive 2018-19

The grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

$ 153,000

December 18, 2017

University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, Common Law Section

Annual Comprehensive 2018-19

The grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

$ 306,000

December 18, 2017

University of Toronto, Faculty of Law

Annual Comprehensive 2018-19

The grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

$ 254,000

December 18, 2017

University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Law

Annual Comprehensive 2018-19

The grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

$ 254,000

December 18, 2017

University of Windsor, Faculty of Law

Annual Comprehensive 2018-19

The grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

$ 254,000

December 18, 2017

The Women's Centre of Halton

North Halton family law clinic

The Women’s Centre of Halton will establish and run a weekly pro bono family law legal clinic in Milton, Ontario.

$ 8,717

December 18, 2017

Osgoode Hall Law School

Annual Comprehensive 2018-19

The grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

$ 306,000

December 18, 2017

Hispanic Development Council

Connecting Communities: Protecting Latino Seniors Under the Umbrella of Law and Rights in Ontario

HDC will conduct a series of eight workshops with frontline workers and community leaders to provide training on the legal and human rights challenges that immigrant Latino Hispanic seniors face.

$ 48,060

November 21, 2017

Law in Action Within Schools

Program Activities 2018-19

LAWS is a partnership between the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Osgoode Hall Law School, and the Toronto District School Board that delivers a law and justice-themed academic and extra-curricular high school program designed to teach students about law and justice, support them to graduate from high school, access post-secondary education, and consider careers in the justice sector.

$ 100,000

October 23, 2017

Native Law Centre

Support for the Native Law Centre's mandate

The NLC will carry out research and educational activities on issues in Aboriginal and constitutional law. It also maintains an online database of legal pleadings in cases of interest to practitioners of Aboriginal law and publishes resources on developments in Aboriginal law with a focus on Aboriginal concepts of justice.

$ 20,000

October 23, 2017

Reach Canada

Legal Referral Community Expansion Project

Reach will expand its legal referral services to assist a larger number of people with disabilities, including French-speaking clients, by recruiting more lawyers and mediators from communities surrounding Ottawa and by connecting with community service organizations to increase their awareness of these free services.

$ 60,572

October 23, 2017

SKETCH Working Arts for Street-Involved and Homeless Youth

Arts in Transformative Justice

Arts in Transformative Justice is a two-year project that will focus on increasing the legal capacity of ‘hard to reach’ youth by building their knowledge and understanding of legal rights of people who are homeless. Arts in Transformative Justice will recruit and train youth to provide legal information and peer-education to homeless and street involved youth through an accessible multi-arts framework.

$ 100,000

October 23, 2017

Black Law Student's Association of Canada

BLSA Canada 2018 Annual Conference (Montreal)

BLSA Canada will put on its annual conference to promote professional development, legal education, mentorship, cultural awareness, and access to justice.

$ 20,000

October 23, 2017

WoodGreen Community Services

Rooming House Stabilization and Eviction Prevention Program

This project aims to proactively prevent evictions by providing legal education to those who live in or run rooming houses in the Parkdale area of Toronto (both licensed and unlicensed), ensuring they understand their rights as tenants or obligations as landlords.

$ 82,445

October 23, 2017

Worker's Action Centre

Moving forward: public education on expanded protections for workers in precarious and low-waged work

WAC will develop and implement a comprehensive public education strategy on the significant changes to Ontario’s employment and labour laws that were passed by the provincial government in 2017.

$ 50,000

October 23, 2017

Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network

Voices of sex workers: affidavit project

CHALN will document and educate the public about the impact of law enforcement practices, such as the enforcement provisions contained in the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (2014), on the health and safety of sex workers and their ability to access medical care and social services. Affidavits with first-hand testimonials from sex workers in several cities, as well as other key informant interviews, will be collected and used to produce educational resources including a report, info sheets, and a short video which will be disseminated and promoted at a public forum and in a peer-reviewed journal.

$ 97,895

October 23, 2017

Canadian National Institute for the Blind – Ontario Division

Know your Rights Project

Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) will develop a variety of resources including guides, fact sheets, and training workshops to provide the sight loss community with the tools to navigate the Ontario legal system and challenge discrimination through legal channels.

$ 100,000

October 23, 2017

Community Legal Education Ontario

CLEO's Centre for Research and Innovation

CLEO’s Centre for Research and Innovation will conduct research, facilitate partnerships, and develop projects to help build the capacity of CLEO and other community organizations to reach marginalized communities with the legal information and education they need to understand their legal rights.

$ 95,000

October 23, 2017

Council of Agencies Serving South Asians

Access to Opportunities for Refugees - A legal education project for refugee youth

CASSA will develop and disseminate a legal toolkit and hold four legal information workshops (two in the GTA and two in Waterloo) for refugee youth.

$ 56,000

October 23, 2017

FCJ Refugee Centre

Migrant Protection Clinics

FCJ Refugee Centre will provide clinics at refugee-serving organizations across the GTA and in London to train staff at those organizations to better help refugees through the refugee determination and other processes.

$ 50,000

October 23, 2017

La Passerelle-I.D.É

Access to Justice in French for Ontario’s Francophone Immigrants

La Passerelle-I.D.É train young Francophone racialized immigrants to improve access to justice and hold a justice career fair for young Francophone racialized immigrants.

$ 30,000

October 23, 2017

BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres

Provincial Child Welfare Training Advocate

BCAAFC will hire a Provincial Indigenous child welfare training advocate who will train to community frontline workers to better support Indigenous families that come into contact with the child welfare system in BC. This training will be delivered to staff of the 25 Friendship Centres in BC.

$ 100,000

September 19, 2017

Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family

The grantee will evaluate an ongoing pilot project by the Alberta’s Court of Queen’s Bench that requires early intervention case conferences in family law matters so that the court can reduce interim applications, reduce the number of files requiring case management, and ensure trials occur within a reasonable period of time. This grant will determine whether the pilot project is meeting its stated goals, using a multi-component research design.

$ 15,000

September 19, 2017

Community Legal Education Ontario

Your Legal Rights/Steps to Justice 2017-2018

Community Legal Education Ontario will continue to develop the Your Legal Rights site, which serves as the central hub for all public legal education and information (PLEI) in Ontario. It will also establish best practices and tools for online PLEI work and continue to develop content for the Steps to Justice site, an interactive, step-by-step site that gives comprehensive online information about common legal problems that people experience in family, housing, employment, and other areas of law.

$ 140,000

September 19, 2017

Family Service Toronto

Trauma-informed lawyering in family court

FST will conduct a gap analysis to find out why valuable training and resources now available to trusted intermediaries (social service workers) who prepare domestic violence survivors to work with family court lawyers as well as trauma training now available to family court lawyers is not consistently improving outcomes for clients. Research data may identify training improvements or other solutions that can be introduced to improve outcomes for all parties involved.

$ 14,875

September 19, 2017

University of Victoria, Faculty of Law

Kipimoojikewin ("the things we carry with us"): How Anishinaabe Law Upholds Local Governance

ILRU will assist local lawmaking, law-acting, and law-thinking, through the articulation of Anishinaabe legal principles and processes that inform essential constitutional and governance concepts such as citizenship, rights and freedoms, consent, authority, and civility. The project will benefit partner Indigenous communities in revitalizing their Indigenous legal traditions.

$ 148,240

September 19, 2017

Native Law Centre

Gladue Awareness Project (GAP)

The NLC will hire a research officer who will train Saskatchewan justice workers on Gladue factors, including writing and understanding Gladue reports. The project will facilitate a knowledge-sharing program for justice stakeholders in Saskatchewan, including judges, defence lawyers, Crown attorneys, and court workers. It will take place over twelve months, during which time approximately 27 seminars will be held at 16 locations throughout the province.

$ 84,945

September 19, 2017

Prince Edward Island Parenting Coordination Society

Screening for family violence, abuse and power imbalances: a workshop for parenting coordinators and other dispute resolutions professionals

PEIPCS will train family dispute resolution professionals on how to screen for family violence and power imbalances in parenting coordination matters that come before them. The two-day workshop will be aimed at legal and mental health professionals in both the public and private spheres and will improve outcomes for families involved in the court system.

$ 7,765

September 19, 2017

Reach Canada

REACH Youth Program

REACH will host legal clinics and PLE sessions in housing, employment, health, and social benefits law for disabled youth and young adults who are in and transitioning from child protection services. In addition, REACH will liaise with youth protection and support organizations to raise awareness about its services and facilitate contact and communication with this vulnerable population.

$ 14,797

September 19, 2017

Rights Advocacy Coalition for Equality (R.A.C.E.)

Rights Advocacy Coalition for Equality

RACE will hire a legal director who will develop RACE’s organizational capacity to deliver legal education seminars. Activities include developing a legal database of caselaw that focuses on race issues, developing a FOI resource bank for lawyers, and developing continuing legal education workshops for legal professionals. This project will benefit vulnerable racialized accused persons and criminal lawyers in Toronto by exploring the barriers to justice faced by racialized accused.

The Second Chance Scholarship Foundation will provide a post-secondary education scholarship to a youth enrolled in a program relating to legal education who is currently, or has been, involved in the criminal justice system or who is at risk of such.

$ 5,000

September 19, 2017

Somali Canadian Association of Etobicoke

SCAE will develop and deliver workshops detailing key aspects of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The focus of the project will be on encouraging youth to educate themselves about the justice system and providing useful tools on how racialized youth should conduct themselves when interacting with the law.

$ 69,100

September 19, 2017

Union of Ontario Indians

UOI will create a booklet that will build awareness around rights and obligations of Indigenous families involved in child protection proceedings. This booklet will be disseminated to UOI community members and will help those navigating CFSA proceedings.

$ 15,000

September 19, 2017

Union of Ontario Indians

Revitalization of Anishinabek Nation Legal Traditions Initiative

UOI will bring together Anishinabek Nation communities to share knowledge, identify traditional Anishinabek legal practices and systems, and explore how these practices and systems can be implemented in modern Indigenous communities. The project will revitalize Indigenous legal traditions and will inform future Anishinabek Nation justice initiatives in governance, education, child welfare, policing, and matrimonial real property.

$ 150,000

September 19, 2017

University of Windsor, Faculty of Law

Self-represented litigants (SRLs) case law database

The NSRLP will create a caselaw database to support self-represented litigants (SRLs). The database will compile, code, and analyze emerging jurisprudence relating to SRLs and cost awards, procedural fairness, ‘vexatious litigants’, and requests for accommodations. This project will help SRLs advocate for themselves in family law proceedings by providing them with accessible, organized legal precedents that can assist them.

$ 14,688

September 19, 2017

University of Victoria, Faculty of Law

Out-of-pocket: calculating the real costs of family court

The Access to Justice Centre for Excellence (ACE) will develop and apply a tool for generating useable data about the real costs of family disputes beyond court and legal fees. The tool will combine typical costs incurred by a family law litigant with census data and user interviews to develop 8-10 personas of family court users. The project will advance policy development, reform efforts, and public understanding of access to justice in the family context by providing a missing piece of the data to understand and respond to the crisis in accessibility in family law.

$ 15,000

September 19, 2017

Bearskin Lake First Nation

First Nation law relating to intoxicants, By-Law #2010-01

Bearskin Lake will continue to implement and improve the cost-effectiveness of its ‘First Nation By-Law Relating to Intoxicants #2010-01’ project.

Saving lives through law: popularizing legislation removing a barrier to emergency response services in the event of overdoes

CHALN will produce and disseminate a public legal education resource that will reduce a key barrier to emergency health services by popularizing knowledge of the new Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act. The law protects individuals from being charged with an offense if they contact emergency assistance when someone overdoses.

Ecojustice will update and revise its 2007 report entitled, “Exposing Canada’s Chemical Valley”. The report is an investigation of the effects of cumulative air pollution in Sarnia and is an important go-to document for environmental non-governmental organizations, academics and government.

Design thinking and technology: responding to the justice needs of Aboriginal youth

The Winkler Institute for Dispute Resolution will expand on activities funded through a previous grant to use “design thinking” to explore how technology might be used to implement the recommendations found in the “Feathers of Hope Justice & Juries: A First Nations Youth Action Plan for Justice” report.

This project will support newcomer youth and their families as they navigate the youth criminal justice system, while providing wrap-around support to the justice-engaged youth. The project will focus on newcomer youth and families living in high priority neighbourhoods.

Project Phoenix: At last public environmental law education, intake and referral in Quebec

The CQDE will develop a free online archive of plain language legal information on environmental law, including a guide to the Environmental Quality Act, the cornerstone legislation for environmental law in Quebec. The project will also provide structured internships for law students.

In partnership with the Comité d’action de Parc-Extension, MELC will offer pro-bono legal services to individuals and nonprofit organizations in the Park Extension neighbourhood in Montreal through a community legal clinic staffed by law students from McGill University and the Université de Montréal.

Law in the classroom: accessible, relevant, interesting and instructive

Éducaloi will create a distribution platform to serve as a hub for legal education resources, consolidate a network of legal information providers, and create a legal training session for high school teachers.

METRAC will build the capacity of individuals, communities and organizations to effectively assist the most marginalized women and youth facing violence and in need of legal information. Program activities include providing legal education and information in clear language on a range of topics for service providers and producing and disseminating regionally targeted and multilingual legal information resources sensitive to the diverse experiences and realities of women.

The proposed program will provide legal education, information, and advice to youth. It will also create connections between relevant stakeholders in the youth criminal justice system, improve access to justice for youth, and ensure that the principles of the Youth Criminal Justice Act are being met.

Éducaloi will create legal education workshops as well as web articles and a printed guide to help young mothers develop the knowledge and skills they need to identify and manage legal issues that arise in their day-to-day lives.

The AJEFO will develop four legal information sessions in French for four low-income or marginalized groups in Ontario: seniors, newcomers, women victims of spousal violence, and LGBTQUIA communities. Potential topics include wills, powers of attorney, Canadian criminal law, family law, and human rights. The sessions will also be recorded and posted online in webinar format.

Developing an online screening, education, and triage portal to resolve family disputes

Ryerson’s Legal Innovation Zone (LIZ) will develop an online information, screening and triage service for separating families. The project, which builds on a multi-session design thinking exercise LIZ ran to engage diverse stakeholders in thinking about ways to reform the family justice system, is aimed at directing those experiencing family breakdown to a range of resources (legal and non-legal).

PIAC will create a user-friendly consumer guide for payday loan users and will design a model policy framework to support the establishment of an ombudsperson-type regime to oversee payday loan complaints, disputes, and violations.

iHuman will undertake two activities. First, it will develop a series of legal education sessions for high-risk youth on a variety of topics. Second, it will utilize iHuman’s existing uncensored drama-based program to develop training modules for child welfare, law enforcement, and legal professionals on topics such as: FASD; trauma’s impact on deviancy, criminality and resilience; and communication strategies for engaging vulnerable youth in non-adversarial dialogue.

UTTAM will put a legal information site online in the “Frequently Asked Questions” format covering rights and obligations under the Quebec act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases.

Working in partnership with legal experts, ACORN Canada will create materials for public legal education workshops to help marginalized communities in Toronto and Ottawa access justice related to consumer rights and fringe financial institutions.

$ 65,253

April 24, 2017

JusticeTrans

JusticeTrans

JusticeTrans provides free legal information about transgender rights across Canada via a website and mobile phone application. In this project, JusticeTrans will redesign its mobile phone application and update the legal information on its website.

Through this project, CLASSIC will work to remove barriers to justice for low-income individuals in Saskatoon and empower them to assert their legal rights and protections. Focusing on Indigenous people, the project will serve: recipients of social assistance; inmates; and people with disabilities. This project will educate community members through advocacy workshops and PLE presentations. In addition, the project will develop an ID workshop and resources on Gladue, both of which will specifically benefit the local Indigenous community.

The Law Commission of Ontario will continue to make recommendations to: make the legal system more relevant, accessible and efficient; simplify or clarify the law; use technology to increase access to justice; stimulate critical debate about law; and promote scholarly legal research.

This project will increase access to culturally respectful legal services for Indigenous individuals in and around Calgary. By employing an Indigenous articling student, the project provides a social justice career alternative to Indigenous law students, builds the organization’s capacity to engage with local Indigenous peoples and communities, and increases access to justice for those who are experiencing systemic barriers.

Creating an online access to justice portal for Newfoundland and Labrador

PLIAN will develop new, online legal information resources for Newfoundland and Labrador, which will be the primary source for legal information, navigation, and education in the province. The online portal will include a “guided pathways” platform that will navigate users to answers for their legal inquiries using a series of questions. All areas of law will be covered, with a particular focus on family law.

KEYS Job Centre will create a legal training program for frontline service providers and community/peer leaders assisting newcomers. The training will focus on aspects of employment and occupational health and safety, as well as public safety and immigration law affecting newcomers’ access to employment.

Easy access and great results – a continuous improvement model for public legal education, intake and referral

CLIA PEI will develop a comprehensive and confidential intake and referral process that will inform a continuous improvement cycle, enabling CLIA to improve operational processes and provide tailored public legal education and information to residents of PEI.

The Justice Education Society of B.C. will introduce “Ask JES Legal Help Services” for 40 of the most popular Provincial Court and Supreme Court forms – for both civil and family matters – in British Columbia. “Ask JES” is Canada’s first virtual legal help service, which was developed with a grant from the LFO in 2011. A new guided pathway tool will be developed to help users identify and complete the court forms they need, supported by virtual assistant help and tips, as well as by phone, live chat, and email.

Family court and beyond: a survival workbook for women leaving abusive partners

Luke’s Place will develop a comprehensive workbook/toolkit to support women navigating Ontario’s family court process (and intersecting legal processes) that will include tips, tools and resources. Luke’s Place will develop the content of the workbook into a series of workshops for women to prepare them for their family court experience, pilot the workshops in Durham, and share the content with trained facilitators across Ontario.

NCCM’s “Know Your Rights, Know Your Responsibilities” guide was created in 2001 to provide legal education and support to Canadian Muslims. This project will update and enhance the guide so that it reflects the current issues faced by Canadian Muslims. In addition, NCCM will developing training materials to accompany the guide, translate the guide and related materials in up to eight languages, and train Muslim community leaders and service providers to communicate and promote the guide.

Expanding virtual family law services to survivors of violence against women

Luke’s Place will expand the reach of its virtual pro bono family law clinic, which serves women who have left an abusive relationship and are not able to access legal representation. The clinic is already established in rural and remote regions of north-eastern Ontario and will be expanded to north-western and rural eastern Ontario.

Connecting Communities: Empowerment through knowledge: making the law accessible to marginalized non-English speaking communities

In partnership with the Korean Canadian Lawyers Association, Vietnamese Women’s Association of Toronto (VWAT), and Kababayan Community Service Centre Inc. (KCSC), KCWA will create and deliver a legal information training project for frontline workers and trusted intermediaries serving members of the Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino communities.

The AJEFA will develop public legal information workshops and resources in French for Francophone Albertans on specific immigration topics, such as sponsorship of a parent or grandparent, foreign workers, and the rights of sponsored persons living in conflict, as well as family law matters, including family violence, child protection, discipline, and the youth justice system. The project will target vulnerable populations such as immigrants, seniors and youth in particular.

This new service, modeled on the service provided in five Ontario hospitals under the aegis of Pro Bono Ontario, will be offered to the parents of sick children who are patients at the Montreal Children’s Hospital who are having legal problems relating to or exacerbated by their child’s illness.

This research project will identify barriers and develop recommendations for increasing the coordination and integration of justice services in order to increase access to justice for marginalized individuals.

OJEN will to expand the reach and depth of its successful Access to Justice Simulation Game. It will produce durable and re-useable print versions of the simulation materials that can be made available to educators; develop a digital platform for the simulation; and create comprehensive facilitator’s guides that explain how to use the simulation with different audiences.

The Community Engagement in International Justice project will provide legal education to refugees and immigrants who have survived serious international human rights violations, such as torture and war crimes, about the options for redress that may be available in Canada and globally. The project will also provide opportunities to engage survivors in emblematic human rights cases and other justice initiatives being advanced through the CCIJ and its team of pro bono lawyers.

The Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia and the Association des juristes d’expression française de la Nouvelle-Écosse will work together to provide a more effective, coordinated, and collaborative public legal education, information, and referral hub.

OJEN will carry out programs that facilitate and support broad-based activity by the judiciary, the bar, the courts, and the education community throughout Ontario, with a primary focus on students and the strengthening of links between the justice and education communities. It will enhance existing high school mock trial competitions and deliver Law Day activities that are designed to develop awareness of the legal profession, the judicial system, and the rule of law in Canada.

The OFIFC will undertake a community-driven research project to recognize local Indigenous legal/justice knowledge and enhance the delivery of the OFIFC’s Aboriginal Community Justice Programs. The goal of the project is for Friendship Centres to engage with local Indigenous knowledge keepers regarding traditional legal and community justice approaches. The project will explore how Indigenous communities dealt with conflicts and harmful behaviours traditionally and how those approaches, principles, and teachings can reframe or enhance the delivery of the Aboriginal Community Justice Program.

This project is an expansion of the original project. The OFIFC will deliver six half-day legal education workshops on human rights legislation aimed at 200 community leaders within Indigenous Friendship Centre communities. Attendees will include Friendship Centre staff, board members, and volunteers. The workshops will provide training on how to distinguish potential human rights violations and how to access the provincial human rights system.

Connecting Ottawa will continue to coordinate a consortium of over 40 legal and non-legal organizations to implement a regional plan to provide legal information and referrals to people who are not proficient in English or French or who face communication challenges as the result of a disability or sensory impairment.

Community Legal Education Ontario will continue to house the Connecting Communities Secretariat to coordinate and support legal and non-legal organizations working to improve access to justice for linguistic minorities and rural and remote communities by training frontline workers and trusted intermediaries.

Connecting Communities: Building capacity of community leaders to respond to family violence in the context of early identification

The Centre will create a program to educate frontline social service workers, including settlement workers within the Muslim community, as well as Muslim religious leaders and possibly other faith leaders. The focus will be on child welfare law, immigration law, and intimate partner violence.

The SSP will provide legal support for private sponsorship groups across Canada through four core activities: a training program for lawyers and law students who volunteer to help sponsors complete private refugee sponsorship applications; direct support through a variety of service delivery models, including legal clinics and matching programs with SSP-trained pro-bono lawyer; a public outreach program to promote SSP services and provide basic public legal information to support sponsor groups; and a campus program to train and engage law students in direct support of refugee sponsorship and sponsorship-related research.

The Children’s Lawyer Initiative is a three-year project to establish a children’s lawyer in BC. The initiative will serve the legal needs of children in contested family law cases, child protection matters, and other legal matters faced by children.

Formative and summative evaluation of a program for crossover youth in Ontario

Ryerson will conduct a formative and summative evaluation of the Cross-Over Youth Project (COYP), a four-year demonstration program designed to address the systemic factors that contribute both to the high rate of youth in Ontario who transition from the child welfare to the juvenile justice system and to the poor outcomes they experience, compared to their non-child welfare counterparts.

Supporting young victims of human sex trafficking through the justice system

Boost Child & Youth Advocacy Centre will design, implement and evaluate a pilot project to increase access to justice for young victims of human sex trafficking in Toronto. This pilot project will be developed in coordination with the Human Trafficking Enforcement Team of Toronto Police Services and other organizations. The model will be made available to other child advocacy centres across Canada that are working with this population.

The Chippewas of the Thames First Nation and the Canadian Environmental Law Association will develop legal and policy mechanisms to protect and improve the drinking water for three First Nations in southwestern Ontario.

The Legal Help Centre will provide legal information workshops, drop-in information and triage, appointment-based one-on-one coaching, and document preparation services for self-represented litigants, as well as representation in Small Claims Court for consumer law matters. The clinic will be staffed by law and articling students and will provide services to individuals who are unable to effectively advocate for themselves due to barriers that include literacy and language, socioeconomic circumstances, culture and disability.

The Action Group on Access to Justice (TAG) will bring together institutional, political and community justice system stakeholders throughout Ontario and build the infrastructure for collaboration, cross-sector innovation and coordinated solutions to the access to justice problem.

Pro Bono Ontario will continue to create and manage programs that connect volunteer lawyers with low-income Ontarians, either directly or in partnership with charitable organizations working in local communities.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Education Trust will conduct in-class seminars, workshops, and lectures to students in elementary and high schools and to pre-service teachers in faculties of education across Ontario via two programs: Teaching Civil Liberties and Civil Liberties in the Schools. The focus is on engaging students in critical thinking and respectful debate about rights and freedoms.

The DWS will analyse over 3,000 OPP Domestic Violence Supplemental Report Forms (DVSRs) from both criminal and non-criminal incidents to gather quantitative data in order to assist with the development of an alternative model for responding to domestic violence.

The DWS will develop educational materials regarding human rights for people living with dementia in partnership with the Ontario Dementia Advisory Group (ODAG).ODAG is an organization of individuals in Ontario living with dementia that work with experts to influence policies and practices that affect their lives.

LAWS’ Summer Job Program places students in paid four-week jobs with law firms, government legal departments, corporate legal divisions, and public interest organizations. The grant enables LAWS to place students in positions with legal aid clinics and public interest organizations, and provides unique opportunities for students to learn about public law and access to justice, observe the legal aid system, and interact directly with community members.

$ 15,000

December 12, 2016

Between the Lines

Between the Lines - Initial Development Phase ("BLT")

BTL will create public legal education tools using an innovative process of community consultation to determine which resources are most in demand.

Shared Path Consultation Initiative

SPCI will develop a web platform containing legal and educational resources to be used by municipal planning professionals, Indigenous leadership, municipal governments, academics, and students who are interested and involved in planning consultations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.

AJEFO will organize and lead Law Day 2017 activities aimed at Francophone high school students in five different regions of the province.

$ 15,000

December 12, 2016

Arab Canadian Lawyers Association

Access to Justice and Arab Canadians in Ontario

The ACLA will conduct consultations with Arab Canadians living in Ontario about their access to justice needs and disseminate a report of their findings to community groups and other access to justice stakeholders in Ontario.

Increasing Access to Justice and Safety for Indigenous Women in British Columbia

EVA will provide legal education to Indigenous service providers to enhance their capacity for understanding and addressing complex issues related to violence against women, access to justice, and legal policies.

Building Capacity within Administrative Tribunals to Improve Access to Justice for Racialized Communities in Ontario

OCASI, in partnership with the Colour of Poverty Campaign/Colour of Change Network, the Metro Toronto Chinese & South East Asian Legal Clinic, Rexdale Community Legal Clinic and the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario, will undertake research to identify barriers faced by racialized communities in accessing administrative tribunals and how these barriers affect the tribunal’s effectiveness and efficiency. They will also develop a tool and related policy on collecting disaggregated data that will help to eliminate or better understand the barriers faced by racialized communities in accessing tribunals.

This award is in honour of Paul Schabas’s contribution as Chair of the Law Foundation of Ontario. PBO will hire a law student to work at McMaster Children’s Hospital. Under the supervision of the on-site PBO lawyer, the student will provide ongoing legal issue spotting training to clinicians, assist patients by providing legal information and summary advice, making referrals to existing legal and social service resources, and conducting the legal research required to organize a knowledge management database for PBO’s medical-legal partnerships.

Closing the Gap: Building Service Providers' Legal Capacity to Improve Access to Justice for Immigrants and Refugees

MIAG, in partnership with legal professionals and clinics, will hold a series of workshops with front-line workers and community leaders on domestic and sexual violence, and parents’ rights and responsibilities towards their children. The goal of the project is to equip participants with the knowledge to share legal information with, and improve access to justice for, new immigrants and refugees.

Grand Council Treaty #3 will hire an education coordinator who will develop and facilitate education seminars on the criminal justice system in 28 Anishinaabe communities located in Ontario and Manitoba. The education seminars will be delivered to youth and community members, and responds to Band leadership and in schools to educate community members (victims and offenders) about the criminal justice system. During community forums held to collect input for the 2013 Iacobucci Report on First Nations representation on juries, members and Elders from 24 of the 28 GCT3 communities identified the need for legal education in criminal law, particularly for youth and their families.

Design Thinking and Technology: Responding to the Justice Needs of Aboriginal Youth (Youth Access to Justice and Technology Grant)

This project will use “design thinking” to explore how technology might be used to implement the recommendations found in the Feathers of Hope Justice & Juries: A First Nations Youth Action Plan for Justice report.

Ryerson’s Legal Innovation Zone, in collaboration with the Foundation, will convene a diverse group of youth, stakeholders, professionals, and community members, to participate in design-thinking processes to identify barriers to youth access to justice. The group will work together to develop solutions that engage technology strategically to improve access to youth justice.

Supporting the human rights of migrant sex workers in Toronto: access to legal services and justice

The CCNC (Toronto) will develop and deliver training to enable front-line workers and other trusted intermediaries who come into contact with migrant sex workers to be more effective in supporting these individuals with their legal needs.

Learning the Law: Legal information training for front line community workers in Peel & surrounding areas

The Peel Multicultural Council will provide training on human rights law and the Ontario Disability Support Program to over 240 settlement and community workers serving the needs of newcomers in the Peel Region and surrounding areas.

Level will hire a national program director for its ongoing “Dare to Dream” program. Through interactive justice education workshops and mentorship activities, Indigenous youth learn about the Canadian justice system, as well as the importance of incorporating Indigenous practices into criminal justice proceedings.

Matthew House will expand its Mock Refugee Hearing Program, which provides simulated or “mock” refugee hearings as a means of effectively preparing refugee claimants for their hearings before the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). The program provides an opportunity for refugees to be prepared for their hearing, as well as offering law students a chance to gain invaluable training and insight into the refugee determination process in Canada.

This project will increase the reach, scope and accessibility of the website www.fasdjustice.ca, a go-to web resource for information on FASD and the justice system. Project activities will include a visual overhaul of the site, content development, case law updates, implementation of a social media strategy, and training delivery, to ensure that the site is reliable and current tool.

LAWS is a partnership between the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Osgoode Hall Law School, and the Toronto District School Board that delivers a law and justice-themed academic and extra-curricular high school program designed to teach students about law and justice, support them to graduate from high school, access post-secondary education, and consider a justice sector or legal profession career.

PLIAN will create simple, easy-to-read information pamphlets explaining the basics of the child protection system, translated into 3 Indigenous languages common in Newfoundland and Labrador. Further, PLIAN will carry out a series of information sessions and community roundtables on the child protection system in several Indigenous communities.

FCJ Refugee Centre will continue to ensure access to justice for precarious migrants with a focus on new and emerging areas of immigration policy and intersections with the criminal justice system. It will also increase the capacity of other refugee-serving organizations to do the same through training workshops.

CLEO and the Ontario Library Association will develop and offer an eight-week online certification course for library staff on key aspects of legal information and referral. The aim of the course is to increase the capacity of library staff to help patrons who have legal problems.

Regent Park Focus will collaborate with the Ontario Justice Education Network (OJEN), local police services, Toronto Community Housing, lawyers, and other officials in the courts and justice system, to engage a minimum of 50 youth (ages 14-24) from four Toronto neighbourhoods in the research, production, and broadcasting of a series of “Youth and the Law” media segments.

The SCCC will work with 3-5 low-income, racialized youth living with mental health concerns as peer educators to increase access to mental health supports for young people who are involved in, or at-risk of being involved in, the criminal justice system.

This two-year Alberta project will encourage lawyers and the public to use limited scope retainers where full retainer counsel is not possible, not affordable or not desired. It will assess lawyers’ and clients’ experience with limited scope work. The project will result in a report that evaluates the experiences of lawyers and clients participating in the program.

In collaboration with Osgoode Hall Law School, CAMH will perform a qualitative study of the perceptions of ORB members and counsel for the accused, hospital and Crown, and senior clinicians regarding to what extent and how the disposition hearing process addresses the twin goals of protecting public safety and treating forensic patients fairly.

The Action Committee will build public access to justice education tools, and an Innovation Toolbox to advance public legal education about the importance of understanding and engaging in legal issues.

CLEO’s Centre for Research and Innovation will conduct research, facilitate partnerships and develop projects to help build the capacity of CLEO and other community organizations to reach marginalized communities with the legal information and education they need to understand their legal rights.

Ontario College Libraries: Access to QuickLaw for fourteen college libraries with Law Society accredited Paralegal Programs

Fourteen community colleges in Ontario will purchase a consortial subscription to Quicklaw. The subscription will allow the students and faculty of Ontario’s paralegal programs full access to this standard electronic legal resource for both teaching and research purposes.

The NLC will carry out research and educational activities on issues in Aboriginal and constitutional law. It also maintains an online database of legal pleadings in cases of interest to practitioners of Aboriginal law, and publishes resources on developments in Aboriginal law with a focus on Aboriginal concepts of justice.

Increasing the access to justice for people who have speech and language disabilities

CDAC will increase access to justice for people with speech and language disabilities by informing people who have these disabilities about their right to communication accommodations and intermediaries when using justice services, and by increasing the capacity of the justice sector to make their services accessible for this population by knowing how and when to engage communication intermediaries.

On the Front Line: Legal Information Training for Frontline Workers Supporting Clients when Interacting with Police [or the Legal System]

Nishnawbe-Aski Legal Services will provide legal information training to frontline workers in Thunder Bay, and Sioux Lookout and surrounding communities on supporting their clients when interacting with police or the legal system.

The South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (Toronto, ON) will hire an Articling Student to provide legal services to linguistic minorities in 2018-2019. This Articling position is funded through the Foundation’s Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

The Legal Clinic will hire an Articling student to provide legal services to residents of rural and remote communities in 2018-2019. The Articling position is funded through the Foundation’s Connecting Articling Fellowship Program.

The Algoma Community Legal Clinic (Sault Ste. Marie, ON) will hire an Articling Student to provide legal services to residents of rural and remote communities in 2018-2019. This Articling position is funded through the Foundation’s Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

The Community Advocacy and Legal Clinic (Belleville, ON) will hire an Articling Student to provide legal services to residents of rural and remote communities in 2018-2019. This Articling position is funded through the Foundation’s Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

The Keewaytinok Native Legal Services (Moosonee, ON) will hire an Articling Student to provide legal services to linguistic minorities and residents of rural and remote communities in 2018-2019. This articling position is funded through the Foundation’s Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

The Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic (Toronto, ON) will hire an Articling Student to provide legal services to linguistic minorities in 2018-2019. This articling position is funded through the Foundation’s Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

UOI proposes to develop an access to justice guide that will provide information and resources on how to navigate the Ontario court system for distribution in the Anishinabek Nation. UOI will seek input from Chiefs, Indigenous community leaders, and legal experts. Once the guide has been drafted, it will be translated into Anishinaabemowin, printed and distributed.

PBO will create an online tool that integrates frontline triage, application forms and administrative processing tasks with a portal to their case management software to enhance services for low-income self-represented litigants.

Community Legal Education Ontario will continue to develop the Your Legal Rights site, which serves as the central hub for all public legal education and information (PLEI) in Ontario. It will also establish best practices and tools for online PLEI work. It will also continue to develop content for the new Steps to Justice site, an interactive, step-by-step site that gives comprehensive online information about common legal problems that people experience in family, housing, employment and other areas of law.

Intersections at an Impasse: Improving Access to Reasonable and Timely Bail for Youth in Ontario

In this two year project, the Centre of Research, Policy & Program Development at the John Howard Society of Ontario, with the active support of Legal Aid Ontario and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and further assistance from the Canadian Mental Health Association Ontario and Justice for Children and Youth, will develop and execute a research, education, and policy initiative on youth bail in Ontario. This initiative will address the gaps and barriers in accessing reasonable and timely bail for youth in Ontario and develop evidence-based solutions to the problems.

The Thunder Bay Consolidated Courthouse was designed with an Aboriginal Settlement Conference Suite (ASCS) to support justice-involved Indigenous people who are navigating the courts, in a culturally appropriate way. IYFS will hire an Indigenous Peoples’ Court Coordinator (“Court Coordinator”), whose main role will be to assist with the continuing development and implementation of the Indigenous People’s Court using the ASCS in Thunder Bay. Indigenous Elders will be recruited to work in tandem with local judiciary to facilitate healing for youth and adult offenders.

$ 74,664

September 12, 2016

Saqijuq

Saqijuq - A Change in Wind Direction

Saqijuq will conduct an evaluation of its pilot program, “A Change in Wind Direction.” The pilot program currently runs in the Inuit communities of Puvirnituq and Kangirsuk, located in northern Quebec, and aims to curb alcohol and drug abuse and reduce criminalization. The evaluation will use a collaborative research approach and will work with community members to frame the objectives of the research, indicators, sources of data and expected results.

Innocence Canada will undertake a legal education project to disseminate information about the causes and consequences of wrongful convictions to stakeholders in the criminal justice system. The project will focus on the particular vulnerabilities of Indigenous and racialized populations to being wrongly convicted in an effort to create systemic changes.

The [Dis]placement Project: Supporting New Canadians Encountering Gentrification in Hamilton

The SPRC will provide educational workshops for community leaders and service providers on laws pertaining to tenant/landlord rights and responsibilities specifically in relation to new Canadians who face displacement due to gentrification.

This two-year legal research project will explore whether new remedies, including a restitutionary remedy, should be available to investors who suffer from corporate wrongdoing, be it under securities law, corporate law or criminal law. This project will focus on the need for additional or alternative regulation in the area of investor remedies.

This project will examine the remedies available for investors under the Ontario Securities Act for corporate misreporting in both prospectuses and continuous disclosures and will explore avenues to strengthen investor rights in these cases. The ultimate goal of the project is to develop appropriate, evidence-based policy recommendations for reform.

Problem-solving Courts and Protective Factors in the Arctic: An Approach to Integrating Inuit Values and Canadian Criminal Courts to Improve Justice Outcomes for Young Inuit Males

This research project will help inform a rehabilitation-oriented wellness court model for Nunavut. The research outcomes will assist the government of Nunavut as it moves forward in efforts to provide specific support to justice-involved Inuit in the territory.

Problem-solving Courts and Protective Factors in the Arctic: An Approach to Integrating Inuit Values and Canadian Criminal Courts to Improve Justice Outcomes for Young Inuit Males

This research project will help inform a rehabilitation-oriented wellness court model for Nunavut. The research outcomes will assist the government of Nunavut as it moves forward in efforts to provide specific support to justice-involved Inuit in the territory.

$ 100,000

June 29, 2016

Social Health and Economic Development Society of Bella Coola

Mid-Coast Indigenous Law Project

SHED Bella Coola will use its legal advocacy program to deliver workshops on legal topics to the remote mid-coast Indigenous communities of Bella Bella and Klemtu and will provide client services through advocacy clinics for Indigenous members of those communities.

SEED Winnipeg, in partnership with the Legal Help Centre of Winnipeg, Momentum in Calgary and academics from Menno Simons College and Queen’s University, will research the experience of low-income registered education savings group plan subscribers and the regulatory context in which these plans are sold. Based on this research, SEED will develop and pilot public legal education materials on group plans tailored to address the needs of low income investors and community-based service providers.

Osgoode Hall Law School, in partnership with the Canadian Foundation for Advancement of Investor Rights, will develop and operate a pro-bono legal clinic and living lab to assist and educate harmed investors and collect relevant data. The clinic, staffed by law students under the supervision of practicing lawyers, will provide free advice to retail investors on how to proceed when they have suffered a loss due to fraud or other wrongdoing. The data collected will contribute to a better understanding of the issues faced by retail investors and how best to help them. The project will also produce publicly available “self-help” information. This will be the first legal clinic of its kind in Canada.

This project focuses on the way in which the financial sector treats vulnerable investors when regulatory bodies take disciplinary measures against dealers and their representatives. The project will examine the decisions of self-regulatory bodies (IIROC, MFDA and CSF) over the last five years in Ontario and Quebec with a view to determining whether and to what extent vulnerability is taken into consideration in disciplinary proceedings and to making recommendations for stronger vulnerable investor protection.

In this this two-year project, Éducaloi will develop a plain language legal information kit and workshop, in both French and English, to support seniors when making investment decisions. Éducaloi will address three topics dealing with investor rights: the legal duties and responsibilities of financial and investment professionals; investment fraud and legal recourses; and powers of attorney and protection mandates to ensure seniors’ investment decisions are respected.

FAIR Canada will undertake a comparative study of legislative and regulatory approaches that allow financial services firms and investment advisors to take immediate, short-term protective action for the benefit of vulnerable customers who may have lost capacity to give instructions due to dementia or other causes or who may be being subjected to undue influence, including elder financial abuse. FAIR will use the study results to develop a model protocol for taking protective action and, if warranted by the research, a regulatory framework establishing a legal safe harbour or similar mechanism for Canada.

In this two-year research and public legal education project, the Canadian Centre for Elder Law (CCEL) will undertake research to identify the legal issues and barriers affecting vulnerable investors who wish to invest, or continue managing their existing investments, under a Supported Decision Making approach, the aim of which is to maximize access to investment options while minimizing the loss of autonomy. The CCEL will also produce a suite of tools for people with capacity challenges, their supporters and investment industry members.

Disseminating Practice-Based Evidence on the Implementation of an Addictions Treatment Court

Ryerson University will gather practice-based evidence of the implementation of an Addictions Treatment Court and disseminate evidence to individuals, the legal community and addiction treatment organizations in Ontario.

Northwatch will conduct a needs assessment and outreach to explore priorities and build relationships to support legal education for small municipalities, volunteer fire fighters and first responders regarding emergency responses relating to the transportation of dangerous goods, including and particularly radioactive waste.

COPA will create an online resource for parents, guardians, caregivers, community support workers and educators that will explore the legal framework of corporal punishment in Canada and will include alternate approaches to discipline.

Access to Supervised Consumption Sites: A Community Consultation to Remove Barriers to an Essential Health Service for People Who Use Drugs

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network will gather front line service providers and policymakers to provide information about and methods for meeting the application requirements to legally operate supervised consumption sites

People’s Law School will organize and deliver 40 performances of its Justice Theatre program to schools and communities with significant Indigenous populations in British Columbia, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan. The performances will focus on the role that restorative justice plays in Canada’s criminal justice system. The grant will also be used to develop teacher and student resources including a handbook of materials for teachers

The Elizabeth Fry Society of Ottawa will hire and train an Indigenous peer support worker who will provide peer support to Indigenous women who are incarcerated or at risk of incarceration and who are reintegrating into the community after incarceration. The peer support worker will act as peer advocate and resource and will provide court support to women navigating the criminal justice system.

$ 110,000

April 25, 2016

Child Protection Parent Education Program Committee

The Child Protection Parent Education Program Committee will translate a child protection booklet into the Mi’kmaq language. The booklet accompanies the legal information DVD on child protection proceedings created with a previous Law Foundation of Ontario grant.

Video to Assist Families of Murdered and Missing Indigenous People and Working Effectively with Indigenous Clients

Aboriginal Legal Services will undertake two projects. First, it will prepare a video to help families of murdered and missing Indigenous people navigate the justice system and access legal supports. Second, it will prepare a video and handbook for lawyers to assist them in working more effectively with Indigenous clients.

This interactive learning day will provide front line workers with practical and legal information as well as support tools and resource material to better serve low income community members navigating the challenges of finding and maintaining safe, healthy and affordable housing in Lanark County.

Legal Education for Staff of Agencies Supporting Individuals with Disabilities in Rural Ontario

Training materials will be developed and delivered to key professionals within the developmental and other disability sectors and to individuals with disabilities and their intermediaries that will increase knowledge regarding the Ontario Disability Support Program and the Residential Tenancy Act.

The Second Chance Scholarship Foundation will provide a post-secondary education scholarship to a youth enrolled in a program relating to legal education, and who is currently, or has been, involved in the criminal justice system or who is at risk of such.

The Law Commission of Ontario will continue to follow its mandate to: recommend law reform measures to enhance the legal system’s relevance, effectiveness and accessibility; improve the administration of justice through the clarification and simplification of the law; consider the use of technology to enhance access to justice; and stimulate critical legal debate about the law.

The Refugee Sponsorship Program (SSP), based at the University of Ottawa, brings together lawyers, law students, and refugee sponsorship experts to assist private refugee sponsors through the provision of pro bono legal services. During a period of intense national demand, the Law Foundation provided funding to support the SSP’s matching services (which matches lawyers with sponsorship groups), the recruitment and training of lawyers, and the coordination of legal clinics and public legal information sessions.

OJEN will carry out programs that engage the judiciary, the bar and the courts throughout Ontario to strengthen links between the justice and education communities. It will enhance existing high school mock trial competitions and deliver Law Day activities that are designed to develop awareness of the legal profession, the judicial system, and the rule of law in Canada.

METRAC will build the capacity of individuals, communities and organizations to effectively assist the most marginalized women and youth facing violence and in need of legal information. Program activities include providing legal education and information in clear language on a range of topics for service providers and producing and disseminating multilingual legal information resources sensitive to the diverse experiences and realities of women.

The Barbra Schlifer Clinic will offer online courses for language interpreters and legal service providers, developed with a previous grant, for a further year. The online course for language interpreters aims to increase interpreters’ knowledge of legal terminology and legal process, and to familiarize them with legal documents and forms. It provides information on the Canadian legal system and on criminal, family and immigration law. The online course for legal service providers, which has been accredited by the Law Society, is intended to equip lawyers and paralegals in Ontario with best practices for working with spoken language interpreters, in-person and remotely.

This project will provide access to justice for those wishing to sponsor Syrian refugees. Lifeline Syria currently partners with the Refugee Sponsorship Support Program (SSP) to provide pro bono legal support to private sponsors. Lifeline Syria will hire a Project Coordinator for one year to leverage and enhance the pro bono efforts of lawyers and law students.

The comprehensive grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

The comprehensive grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

The comprehensive grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

The comprehensive grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

The comprehensive grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History will study and promote public interest in the history of the law, the legal profession and the judiciary in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada and stimulate research and publication on these subjects.

The Dream Team will develop and deliver workshops on the Residential Tenancies Act and tenant rights to low-income tenants in community settings in the GTA.

$ 15,000

December 2, 2015

South Ottawa Community Legal Services

Connecting Region/Ottawa

Connecting Ottawa will continue to coordinate a consortium of over 40 legal and non-legal organizations to implement a regional plan to provide legal information and referrals to people who are not proficient in English or French or who face communication challenges as the result of a disability or sensory impairment. The aim of the project is to improve access to justice.

The comprehensive grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

Pro Bono Law Ontario will continue to create and manage programs that connect volunteer lawyers with low-income Ontarians either directly, or in partnership with charitable organizations working in local communities.

The comprehensive grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

The Law Society of Nunavut will provide public legal education across the territory to assist Nunavummiut to understand and exercise their legal rights in a number of areas of law and will develop and implement youth outreach workshops.

LAWS’ Summer Job Program places students in paid four-week jobs with law firms, government legal departments, corporate legal divisions, and public interest organizations. The grant will enable LAWS to place students in positions with legal aid clinics and public interest organizations that would otherwise be unable to employ the students, and provide unique opportunities to learn about public law and access to justice, observe the legal aid system, and interact directly with community members.

LCCJ will expand its capacity to provide restorative justice practices to youth by proactively engaging with the 40 schools and youth centres in the county. Trained volunteers will work with the students, parents’ associations and school administrators to assist them in using restorative justice practices to resolve issues of conflict.

The comprehensive grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

Community Living Ontario will work to develop a comprehensive resource guide for individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families, outlining best practices for wills, trusts and estate planning.

Community Legal Education Ontario will continue to house the Connecting Communities Secretariat to coordinate and support the activities of a group of legal and non-legal organizations working to improve access to justice for linguistic minorities and rural and remote communities.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Education Trust will conduct in-class seminars, workshops and lectures to students in elementary and high schools, and to pre-service teachers in faculties of education across Ontario via two programs: Teaching Civil Liberties and Civil Liberties in the Schools. The focus is on engaging students in critical thinking and respectful debate about rights and freedoms.

AIDWYC will continue to coordinate and administer its pro bono program that provides review and assessment of claims of innocence, and legal assistance for adopted cases of wrongful murder convictions.

The South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (Toronto, ON) will hire an Articling Student to provide legal information and services to linguistic minorities. This Articling position is funded through the Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

The Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic (Toronto, ON) will hire an Articling Student to provide legal information and services to linguistic minorities. This Articling position is funded through the Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

The Legal Clinic will have an Articling student to provide legal information and services to residents of rural and remote communities. The Articling position is funded through the Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

The Keewaytinok Native Legal Services (Moosonee, ON) will hire an Articling Student for 2017-2018 to provide legal information and services to linguistic minorities and residents of rural and remote communities. This Articling position is funded through the Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

The Community Advocacy and Legal Clinic (Belleville, ON) will hire an Articling Student to provide legal information and services to residents of rural and remote communities. This Articling position is funded through the Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

The Algoma Community Legal Clinic (Sault Ste. Marie, ON) will hire an Articling Student to provide legal information and services to residents of rural and remote communities. This Articling position is funded through the Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

In this project, People to People will hold a series of workshops with community leaders and front-line workers on immigration, human rights and criminal law as they relate to people living with HIV/AIDS. The workshops will use the Ethiopian coffee ceremony – a traditional form of discussion and information sharing in the Ethiopian community. The goal of the project is to equip participants with the requisite knowledge to share legal information and make referrals to legal services for community members.

Expanding the Dialogue: Public Education and Capacity Building on Precarious Employment and Low-Waged Work

WAC will expand the dialogue through e-bulletins, training sessions, workshops and forums, in order to build capacity and deliver public legal education in at least six Ontario communities facing high rates of precarious low-waged work.

Confronting an increasingly complex communications marketplace, Canadian consumers need meaningful and reliable information to understand their rights, make informed choices, and evaluate solutions for successful self-advocacy. Through direct consultation with consumers on their information seeking, access, and use habits, this project will establish best practices and an online toolkit for consumers to access and evaluate solutions for successful self-advocacy.

TAG will bring together institutional, political and community stakeholders throughout Ontario and build the infrastructure for collaboration, cross-sector innovation and coordinated solutions to the access to justice problem.

Building on the success of SKETCH’s previous project, Acting OUT-Street Law Smarts will recruit and train LGBTQ2S-identified youth to be Legal Educators/Advocates. They will develop and deliver theatre-based training workshops to provide relevant legal education with a particular focus around sexual orientation and gender identity issues for community professionals working with homeless and street-involved youth.

Justice and Mental Health Program: Increasing the Capacity of SSO's Designated Representative Service

SSO will increase the capacity of its Designated Representative service by engaging a program coordinator. The program coordinator will provide support for individuals impacted by mental illness who are facing immigration/deportation proceedings, train peer-support workers, and conduct training workshops for professional groups who interface with this population.

The Native Law Centre will carry out research and educational activities on issues in Aboriginal and constitutional law. The NLC also maintains an online database of legal pleadings in cases of interest to practitioners of Aboriginal law, and publishes resources on developments in Aboriginal law with a focus on Aboriginal concepts of justice.

LAWS is a partnership between the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Osgoode Hall Law School and the Toronto District School Board that delivers a law and justice-themed academic and extra-curricular high school program designed to teach marginalized students about law and justice, support them to graduate from high school, access post-secondary education and consider a justice sector or legal profession career.

The project will evaluate whether and how views of the child reports can assist children, their parents and ultimately the courts to understand the views and preferences of children. It will also assess the value of these reports for facilitating less expensive and more timely family dispute resolution.

FCJ Refugee Centre will develop and implement an integrated response and case management model for precarious migrant populations and disseminate the findings and best practices to the wider settlement and migrant-serving communities.

Ontario College Libraries proposal to acquire QuickLaw for 14 college libraries with Law Society accredited Paralegal Programs

Fourteen community colleges in Ontario will purchase a consortial subscription to Quicklaw, Canada’s major legal information system. The subscription will allow the students and faculty of Ontario’s college paralegal programs full access to this standard electronic legal resource for both teaching and research purposes.

Community Legal Education Ontario will continue to develop the “yourlegalrights.ca,” a comprehensive legal information site for Ontarians. The site’s goal is to serve as the central hub for all public legal education and information (PLEI) related activity in Ontario and establish best practices and tools for online PLEI work.

CLEO’s Centre for Research and Innovation will conduct research, facilitate partnerships and develop projects to help build the capacity of CLEO and other community organizations to reach marginalized communities with the legal information and education they need to understand their legal rights.

METRAC will build the capacity of individuals, communities and organizations to effectively assist the most marginalized women and youth facing violence and in need of legal information. Program activities include providing legal education and information in clear language on a range of topics for service providers and producing and disseminating regionally targeted and multilingual legal information resources sensitive to the diverse experiences and realities of women.

Dare to Dream is an innovative program that bring together members from the legal community to educate, inspire and mentor Aboriginal students through justice-focused educational activities. Due to the continued success of the program in Toronto and Ottawa, CLA-ACE proposes to expand Dare to Dream to the Chippewas of Rama First Nation in 2015-16.

The Mark J. Sandler Professional Development Bursary for Recent Call Lawyers

This award is in honour of Mark J. Sandler’s contribution as Chair of the Law Foundation of Ontario. The bursary, valued at $2,000 per year, is funded for five years (2016-2020). Its purpose is to fund travel related expenses for recent call lawyers to attend the Criminal Lawyers’ Association’s continuing professional development programming.

Connecting Communities: Increasing Access to Legal Information for People with Speech and Language Disabilities (SLDs)

This project will provide training to disability advocates, including social workers, speech-language pathologists, peer support workers, and family members in three areas of law – consent and capacity, housing and attendant services, and access to essential services – that impact people who have speech and language disabilities (SLDs), not caused by hearing loss. The aim of the training is to increase the ability of front-line workers to support their clients who have SLDs who are facing legal problems.

The Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC) will provide training workshops on human rights legislation, anti-discrimination protections, and the human rights enforcement process to community leaders within Indigenous Friendship Centre communities in Ontario. The project aims to promote education and awareness, advance access to justice and begin facilitating a dialogue about discrimination and human rights issues in Aboriginal communities across the province.

Providing Virtual Family Law Services to Survivors of Violence against Women

Luke’s Place, in partnership with Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, proposes to establish a virtual pro bono family law clinic model for women who have left an abusive relationship and are not able to access legal representation in a remote, underserved region of the province.

The Law Commission of Ontario will continue to follow its mandate to: recommend law reform measures to enhance the legal system’s relevance, effectiveness and accessibility; improve the administration of justice through the clarification and simplification of the law; consider the use of technology to enhance access to justice; and stimulate critical legal debate about the law.

Connecting Communities: No Longer the Norm: A Legal Information Training Project on Sexting and Cyberbullying

This project will train frontline staff working with young people and youth leaders on the law as it relates to sexting and cyberbullying, and the serious impact of these behaviours on victims. A video will be produced jointly with the Niagara Regional Police Services, which will provide a key training resource for the project. Workshops will be held throughout the Niagara Region and a webinar will be created and offered to the coordinators of the forty Youth Justice Committees throughout Ontario.

Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC) provides legal services without charge to organizations and individuals in need in Canada. Housed at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, it is the only national law student program in Canada with chapters in 21 law schools. Its law student volunteers serve communities from coast to coast, working to increase access to justice by offering high quality, professional legal assistance and meaningful leadership opportunities for students who run the local chapters. The LFO’s funding covers all program costs at the Ontario law school chapters, and contributes to national office costs, including the annual national training conference for Student Coordinators.

The Second Chance Scholarship Foundation will provide a post-secondary education scholarship to a youth enrolled in a program relating to legal education, and who is currently, or has been, involved in the criminal justice system or who is at risk of such.

The Ontario Justice Education Network will carry out programs that facilitate and support broad-based activity by the judiciary, the bar, the courts, and the education community throughout Ontario, with a primary focus on students and the strengthening of links between the justice and education communities. It will enhance existing high school mock trial competitions and deliver Law Day activities that are designed to develop awareness of the legal profession, the judicial system, and the rule of law in Canada.

The Coalition Assisting Trafficked Individuals (CATI) proposes to develop and implement an innovative legal training project that will offer training to front line community agency staff as well as non-traditional service providers. The information will be offered to a wide range of intermediaries, both those traditionally considered service providers (i.e. shelter workers, health workers) as well as non-traditional intermediaries (i.e. individuals who work in hair and nail salons, hotels and restaurants). The project will increase participants’ awareness of the social and legal issues facing people who are being trafficked and will, most importantly, provide information and resources to them.

$ 43,140

February 10, 2015

Interfaith Initiatives for Civic Engagement

Connecting Communities: The Spirit of the Law: Educating the Faith Sector on Poverty Law

This project will provide members of Ontario’s faith sector with relevant knowledge about key poverty law areas and how these relate to situations where an individual has mental health issues. The project will enhance the capabilities and capacities of the faith sector to identify legal issues and be able to provide pre-crisis and referral supports to individuals living in poverty and with mental health-related issues.

The Community Advocacy and Legal Clinic (Belleville, ON) will hire an Articling Student to provide legal information and services to residents of rural and remote communities. This Articling position is funded through the Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

The Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic (Toronto, ON) will hire an Articling Student to provide legal information and services to linguistic minorities. This Articling position is funded through the Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

The Legal Clinic will have an Articling student to provide legal information and services to residents of rural and remote communities. The Articling position is funded through the Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

The South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (Toronto, ON) will hire an Articling Student to provide legal information and services to linguistic minorities. This Articling position is funded through the Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

The Keewaytinok Native Legal Services (Moosonee, ON) will hire an Articling Student for 2016-2017 to provide legal information and services to linguistic minorities and residents of rural and remote communities. This Articling position is funded through the Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

The Algoma Community Legal Clinic (Sault Ste. Marie, ON) will hire an Articling Student to provide legal information and services to residents of rural and remote communities. This Articling position is funded through the Connecting Articling Fellowship program.

In this three-year research study CLEO, working in partnership with the Institute for Social Research at York University, will examine the effectiveness of Public Legal Education and Information (PLEI) in helping people with low and modest incomes address their legal problems. The research, conducted at sites in Ontario and British Columbia, will collect and examine qualitative and quantitative data on the factors or characteristics that contribute to PLEI’s effectiveness in supporting positive outcomes in a range of circumstances along the legal services continuum.

Connecting Communities: Building Capacity for Migrant Workers and Service Providers to Access Justice

The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (Toronto, ON) will train front-line staff working with migrant workers and migrant worker leaders on new developments in labour and immigration law in the GTA and rural areas of Ontario. This project is an outgrowth of Connecting Communities.

Mentorship, training and supervision are provided by MLST members for law students who assist unrepresented persons appearing before the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board on requests for review of decisions of regulated health professions colleges.

Law in Action Within Schools (LAWS) will place students in paid positions with legal aid clinics and public interest organizations that enable students to learn about public interest law and access to justice, observe the legal aid system, and interact directly with community members.

LAWS is an innovative partnership between the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Osgoode Hall Law School and the Toronto District School Board that delivers a law and justice-themed academic and extra-curricular high school program designed to not only teach marginalized students about law and justice, but to support them to graduate from high school, access post-secondary education and consider a justice sector or legal profession career.

The comprehensive grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

Community Legal Education Ontario (Toronto, ON) will continue to house the Connecting Communities Secretariat to coordinate and support the activities of a group of legal and non-legal organizations working to improve access to justice for linguistic minorities and rural and remote communities.

$ 114,000

December 10, 2014

Centre Haïtien des Carrières et des Emplois

The Centre Haïtien des Carrières et des Emplois will organize, develop and deliver a legal information training program in French to 100 youth from French-speaking, ethno cultural communities. The training will cover general information about the justice system and criminal law, including youth rights in interactions with police, breach of recognizance, the legal aid system and support for youth in detention centres.

The comprehensive grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

Bridging the gap: Connecting workers serving women living with and affected by HIV

CHALN will improve the support services available to women in Ontario by 1) convening front-line workers from HIV and violence against women sectors to learn about the intersections among their areas of work, and 2) creating information sheets for service providers and “Know Your Rights” materials for women living with HIV on gender based violence, HIV and available services.

The comprehensive grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Education Trust will conduct in-class seminars, workshops and lectures to students in elementary and high schools, and to pre-service teachers in faculties of education across Ontario via two programs: Teaching Civil Liberties and Civil Liberties in the Schools. The focus is on engaging students in critical thinking and respectful debate about rights and freedoms.

The comprehensive grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

The comprehensive grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

The comprehensive grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

AIDWYC will continue to coordinate and administer its pro bono program that provides review and assessment of claims of innocence, and legal assistance for adopted cases of wrongful murder convictions.

The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History will study and promote public interest in the history of the law, the legal profession and the judiciary in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada, and to stimulate research and publication on these subjects.

The project will engage 25 youth (ages 14-24) in the research, production, and broadcasting of a television series (5 shows) around public legal education topics, legal resources, and case studies that are relevant to and reflective of the lives of young people today.

The comprehensive grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

Pro Bono Law Ontario will continue to carry out its mandate to promote access to justice in Ontario by promoting opportunities for lawyers to provide pro bono (free) legal services to persons of limited means.

The comprehensive grant will support activities that respond to access to justice needs in the local community and provide student enrichment opportunities through experiential learning and other means.

The Huron Women’s Shelter (Goderich, ON) will trains front-line staff working in the violence against women sector and in other grassroots agencies in rural Huron County on the intersection between poverty and mental health law. This project is an outgrowth of Connecting Communities.

Building on the success of a previous Connecting Communities project grant, the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations (Toronto, ON) will hold a series of trainings aimed at providing front-line workers with in-depth education on tenants’ rights in six rural communities across Ontario. This project is an outgrowth of Connecting Communities.

$ 105,610

November 17, 2014

South Ottawa Community Legal Services

Connecting Ottawa

Connecting Ottawa (Ottawa, ON) will continue to coordinate a consortium of over 40 legal and non-legal organizations to implement a regional plan to provide legal information and referrals to linguistic minorities.

Kinbrace will adapt to Ontario, translate into three languages and disseminate its educational tool designed to help refugee claimants further understand the refugee determination system and increase their capacity to prepare for their refugee hearings.

$ 50,000

October 27, 2014

Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Library

Ontario College Libraries: Quicklaw for fourteen college libraries which have accredited paralegal programs

Fourteen community colleges in Ontario will purchase a consortial subscription to Quicklaw, Canada’s major legal information system. The subscription will allow the students and faculty of Ontario’s college paralegal programs full access to this standard electronic legal resource for both teaching and research purposes.

Justice for First Nations Children and Young People is Justice for All

The Caring Society will create a customizable online educational resource on the sources of systemic disadvantage for First Nations children on reserve, available redress systems and resources, and pragmatic examples of how individuals, group and organizations can address them.

Access to Justice and Support for Refugee Claimants through the Refugee Determination and Appeal Processes

The FCJ Refugee Centre will implement two new programs for refugee claimants – the READY Tour, and the RAD Ready Tour – as well as continue to provide direct support to uprooted populations and training to refugee serving agency staff in the refugee determination process.